


Apollo Wright: Turnabout Repeated

by WrightFamilyAgency (Unicornfoal)



Series: Luke and Apollo Wright [2]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-06-29 03:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 40,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unicornfoal/pseuds/WrightFamilyAgency
Summary: In the aftermath of Vera's acquittal, Maya has finally left for Khura'in, and Phoenix has gone with her. The Wright Anything Agency, as well as young Trucy and Machi, have been left in Apollo's capable hands for a couple of weeks, and Thalassa and Luke are never too far away to help if he needs it.What better time for one of Kristoph's old cases to come knocking on their door?Slice of Life/Casefic, immediately following "Luke and Apollo Wright".





	1. Half a World Away

**Author's Note:**

> This story will contain spoilers for its predecessor, as well as the games 'Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney' and 'Ace Attorney Investigations 2', but you don't have to have played those to understand anything. I might add more games to this list later, if they become relevant.
> 
> Thank you so much any returning readers for sticking around through my unplanned and unexpected hiatus! I hope you continue to enjoy the adventures of the extended Wright family. :)

2026  
October 27, 8:02AM  
Kingdom of Khura'in  
Bazaar

 

It had only been two days since they left America, but to Maya Fey, it felt like weeks. Sure, they'd had some stopover time between planes in Tokyo, and then again in Delhi, but that had only been enough time to (try to) take a nap and watch the sun rise before they were getting on another plane. She'd snatched _plenty_ of sleep on each flight, but that only seemed to come back to bite her later, when she had six long and dark hours to fill without leaving the airport. It was a miracle Phoenix hadn't killed her. Luckily, the third flight wasn't nearly as long as the first two; Within an hour after their small plane left New Delhi, they were on the tarmac in Khura'in.

Maya paused as she stepped off the stairs and onto the asphalt. Above, whichever way she looked, she could see the high mountains of the Himalayas stretching up into the sky, passing clouds drifting around them like silver wreaths in the morning sun. Behind her, their prop plane was parked on the side of the runway that stretched off to her left and right; In front of her was the squat building that served as the country's lone airport. Beyond, she could just see the tops of the buildings that made up Khura'in's capital, and hear the buzz of activity as its residents started their day, similar to the much quieter buzz as her fellow passengers walked past on their way to customs.

So this was going to be her life for the next two years.

Maya missed home more than ever.

A hand rested on her back, and she turned to see the love of her life appear at her side, the light of the morning sun framing his taller figure and distinctive spiky hair: Her fiancé of two weeks (and boyfriend of five years, though they had been partners for a decade now), Phoenix Wright. He gave her a concerned look, his free hand tucked into the front pocket of his grey hoodie. He didn't need to speak to convey a question with his eyes: _Are you okay?_

 _(Better now I'm looking at you.)_ Maya didn't think her exact thought came across in her smile, but enough of the meaning got through that Phoenix smiled in return. Maya instantly felt much better.

 

The couple progressed through customs quickly, picking up their combined three suitcases and exiting into the busy streets. Maya had no idea if there were 'rush hours' here like there were back home, but she'd bet money that, if there were, she and Phoenix had landed right in the middle of one. The crowds here were so different to any she'd seen before, either back in America or on her brief trips to England: Instead of a variety of colours in hair and skin, the people here were uniformly pale, with pitch black hair. Instead of the western styles she was used to, or even the Japanese attire common in her village, the Khura'inese nation wore plain robes, and kept their straight hair loose even when it was tied up. Additionally, the crowds weren't _entirely_ made up of people, with furry yaks dragging carts through the narrow streets, stray dogs darting between legs and into alleys, and even a large black bird perched on a stand next to what looked like a souvenir shop.

Phoenix edged closer to his fiancée's side, distracting her from her train of thought. "So, uh, where are we headed?"

"There's a temple that offers free room and board to visitors." Her hands clutching her suitcases tight, Maya picked a direction and strode forward, paying little heed to Phoenix's struggles to keep up. "It's supposed to be in the center of town, so I'd guess it's ahead of us, higher up the mountain."

" _Which_ mountain?" Phoenix waved at the peaks above them with no small amount of exasperation. "We're in the middle of the Himalayas, Maya!"

Maya shrugged, and pointed at the mountain-top directly ahead, bare rock except for where a massive, elaborately decorated building was visible behind a plain white wall. "I was thinking it might be that one, but there's only one way to find out if I'm right, isn't there?" She shot him a grin. "Stop worrying, Nick. We'll find it."

Phoenix sighed, pressing his free hand to his face. "How widely spoken is English here? We need to ask directions." He looked up, searching the bazaar they were wandering into. "What's the name of this temple, anyway?"

Maya opened her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by what she could only describe as a _lion's roar_ ringing in the air, reverberating in their bones. Both she and Phoenix jumped, their suitcases forgotten as they clung to each other, eyes wide and scanning the narrow street. It took a few moments for Maya's eyes to come to rest on the most likely candidate for the noise: the large black bird she had noticed earlier, clacking its beak and ruffling its feathers on its wooden perch. It strongly resembled a crane, with a red ruff around its shoulders and a similarly coloured spiked crest on its head. Next to it was crouched a young boy in blue robes, hands pressed tightly to his mouth as he fought laughter. His eyes were undoubtedly on the American couple.

Phoenix was still busy scanning the other side of the street. "There's no way we're the only people who heard that... Why is no-one else reacting?"

Maya scowled. Shoving Phoenix away, she stalked across the bazaar and planted her feet in front of the boy, hands on her hips. "Ex _cuse_ me."

The boy quickly muffled his giggles, bounding to his feet with a grin. His necklace bounced with the movement, showcasing a green magatama with a long tail that zig-zagged back and forth before ending in a sharp point, much like the beads arranged on either side of it. " _Hap'piraki_!" He held his hands together in a fashion Maya couldn't help recognising as the channelling pose, and bowed. "You are new to Khura'in, aren't you? I can tell! I will show you around! Only eighty dahmas!"

Maya couldn't help staring at the boy in shock. "Uh...?"

"Oh good, he speaks English." Phoenix joined them, carefully balancing the three suitcases in his arms. With a sigh, he put them down, and fixed the boy with a friendly smile. "Hey, we're looking for a temple in the center of town. Would you be able to point us in the direction it might be?"

"A temple?" The boy's mouth opened in an excited gasp. "You mean Tehm'pul Temple? That's the highlight of the tour! I will take you there! Only seventy dahmas!" He held out a hand expectantly.

Phoenix turned to Maya with a raised eyebrow. Seeing her confused expression, he turned back to the boy. "How... old are you?"

The boy puffed out his chest proudly. "My name's Ahlbi Ur'gaid. I'm seven years old." He giggled, linking his hands behind his head. "I've lived here all my life, so you won't find a better guide than me! I'm a monk-in-training at the temple, so it's no problem to take you there. Only sixty dahmas!"

Phoenix still looked a little lost. "Just directions would be fine."

Maya huffed, directing a glare at the boy. "You were laughing at us earlier. Why should we pay you anything?"

Immediately Ahlbi's smile disappeared, and the boy paled and waved his hands innocently. "Oh, I didn't mean anything by it, I promise! Allow me to explain!" He ran around to where the large bird was perched, and gestured to it proudly. "This bird is known as a warbaa'd. It's only found here in Khura'in. Its unusual cry tends to scare foreigners. That's how I knew you were new here." He snickered, pointing to the couple. "That, and your funny clothes."

Maya crossed her arms with a frown.

Phoenix hid a laugh of his own. " _Our_ funny clothes? I can understand you saying that to me, but Maya's practically wearing the same thing as you."

"I am _not_." Maya whacked her fiancé with the back of a hand. " _I'm_ wearing a traditional feminine kimono, something my family picked up in Japan before coming to America. _He_ is wearing male Khura'inese robes. They're totally different!"

Phoenix smirked, eyeing Maya's and then Ahlbi's necks. "He's still wearing a magatama and necklace, very much like yours."

"They are _not_!"

"Wow, I didn't even notice that!" Ahlbi strained on his tip-toes to see Maya's necklace above her crossed arms. "Yours is one of those eastern magatamas, like a _magatah'man_ , instead of our Khura'inese ones. And you've got big round beads instead of little pointed ones!"

Phoenix laughed. "A Magata-man? What is that, a superhero?"

Maya couldn't help but be intrigued, despite her attempts to remain angry at the boy. Already her mind was racing with images of a Khura'inese Pink Princess, protecting Neo Olde Tokyo alongside the Steel Samurai.

"Allow me to explain!" Ahlbi grinned, hands clasped together. "It's a famous Khura'inese sweet bun, also known as a 'soul bun'! It's shaped like a magatama! It's so yummy, it'll send your soul straight to the Twilight Realm!"

As nice as that sounded, Maya was incredibly disappointed.

Ahlbi frowned to himself. "I should probably carry some around with me to offer to my customers. Descriptions don't do them justice."

Phoenix chuckled. Maya could see from the look on Phoenix's face that the boy had already thoroughly trapped her fiancé with his charms; There was no saving Phoenix from his own instincts as a father. Wasn't Ahlbi about the age Pearl and then Trucy had been when he first met them, the same age Alfendi Layton was now? Maybe it was just seven-year-olds in general that triggered his Dad-mode. Regardless, Phoenix gestured to himself, and then to Maya, distracting her from her internal monologue. "By the way, my name's Phoenix Wright, and this is my fiancée, Maya Fey."

Ahlbi again assumed the channelling pose and bowed. " _Hap'piraki_! It's very nice to meet you, Mister Wright and Miss Fey!"

Maya forced her mind to stay on the conversation. "Wait, 'happy' what?"

" _Hap'piraki_. That's how we greet people here in Khura'in." Ahlbi grinned. "It's like 'Hello', or 'How do you do'. It's a pretty handy expression to know!"

Although Maya wanted to deny it, Phoenix wasn't the only one getting lost in the magic of Ahlbi's charms. She gave the boy a smile and imitated his bow. " _Hap'piraki_ , Ahlbi. It's nice to meet you, too."

Phoenix dipped his head, sneaking glances at Maya. " _Hap'piraki_." He seemed somewhat awkward, unwilling to attempt the full greeting in case he messed up; Maya thought it was adorable. "So, which way is the temple...?"

Ahlbi's eyes lit up. "Ah! For the happy couple, I will give a two-for-one deal! Only forty dahmas!" Before Phoenix could object, the boy was racing towards an elaborate gate at the end of the street, waving for the couple to follow. "This way!"

Maya snorted. Despite the rude introduction, she decided she liked little Ahlbi. "Well, we do kinda _need_ a tour."

Phoenix rolled his eyes, then bent down to retrieve his suitcase, hiding a smile. "I've never seen such an aggressive businessman at such a young age before. Not even Trucy was that pushy."

"Her business was more entertaining, not marketing." Maya grabbed her own luggage, then strode off towards the elaborate gate, where she could see Ahlbi impatiently waiting for them. "Speaking of, we need to remember to call the kids before we crash."

"You got that right." Phoenix sighed, his exhaustion from the long trip evident in his expression. "We're almost exactly twelve hours away. Jet-lag's gonna _suck_."

"We'll manage." Maya paused long enough to bounce up on her heels and plant a kiss on Phoenix's cheek. "Now c'mon, I want to know where we're sleeping already."


	2. Fey or Wright?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahlbi introduces Phoenix and Maya to Tehm'pul Temple.

October 27, 8:25AM  
Kingdom of Khura'in  
Tehm'pul Temple Plaza

 

Beyond the fancy gateway, Ahlbi led Phoenix and Maya to a depressingly tall stairway, leading up the mountainside towards the massive building Maya had noticed earlier.

"It's right up here." Ahlbi waved the couple on, already skipping up the stone steps. "Not far to go."

Phoenix and Maya shared a weary look at the long walk ahead of them. Without a word, they collapsed the handles of their suitcases and began to tug their luggage upwards alongside them.

Although it felt far longer, it took only ten minutes to get to the top. About halfway up, Ahlbi stopped them to have a short rest (Maya was surprised even _he_ seemed a bit tired of the endless climb) before again moving on. It helped that, not long after they began their walk, Phoenix grabbed the bottom of Maya's heavier bag, allowing them both to lift it over the rough steps and easing Maya's load a little as they walked. None of them spoke, saving their breath for moving, but Maya made sure to give her fiancé a grateful smile when she was able.

Finally, the steep steps reached the white stone walls of the building above. An elaborate gold-topped gate, very like the one at the base of the stairs, welcomed them through into an open courtyard, giving the trio an unobstructed view of the yellow-roofed temple inside. Red walls were framed by large strips of purple-pink fabric draped along the eaves or with one end tied to the ground. Much like the two gateways leading up to it, its front door was topped with gold, though it was flanked by red columns and decorated above with a row of gold tassels attached to a skirt of black cloth hanging from the archway's eaves. On the ground below, a shallow rectangular pool stretched the length of the courtyard to their feet, lined on either side by tall flagpoles, each one with a yellow, pink or red banner hanging from the top to brush against the grass below.

Phoenix softly gasped from Maya's side, eyes scanning the view ahead of them. "Gorgeous..."

Maya smiled. "It _is_ beautiful, isn't it?"

"Allow me to explain!" Ahlbi spun to face the exhausted couple, giving them a grin. "This is the heart of our town, Tehm'pul Temple. It was created by the founder of Khura'inism, the Holy Mother herself! She was a great spirit medium who could commune with our ancestor's souls, and spirit mediums become queen to this day, direct descendants of the Holy Mother."

Phoenix snorted, elbowing Maya. "A spirit medium queen, huh? Talk about power and influence."

Maya rolled her eyes at him. She'd read enough cliffnotes-versions of the dominant religion here, Khura'inism, to know at least _that_ much.

"The main thing you'll want to see when you come to Tehm'pul Temple is the Dance of Devotion rite!" Ahlbi didn't seem to have noticed their exchange, gesturing to the building behind him. "The Dance of Devotion takes place twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. This dance, along with the Song of Ceremony, is performed in offering to the Holy Mother!" His voice was beginning to speed up, his eyes wide and shining in excitement. "The Dance of Devotion has the power to summon forth souls from the Twilight Realm! In Khura'inism, we believe the soul is carried by the sacred Khura'inese butterfly. Its wings form a loop that wraps around the soul to transport it-"

" _Hold it_!"

Maya jumped just as much as Ahlbi at Phoenix's outburst, both of them turning to face his exasperated look. She raised a confused eyebrow. "Nick?"

"Sorry Ahlbi, but..." Phoenix sighed, rubbing his forehead. "We can't remember all of that at once. Not right now."

Maya tried not to pout. _(Speak for yourself, old man.)_

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Ahlbi quickly bowed again, cheeks red. "I guess I got a little overexcited."

"That's okay; It's a really interesting topic, so I can understand how you'd get lost in it." Maya gave the boy a smile, and found herself having to suddenly fight off a yawn. _(Oh yeah, it's evening back home.)_ Now she was reminded of that fact, she could feel the exhaustion tugging on every inch of her body, demanding she lie down and sleep for, at the very least, a couple of days straight. _(I guess Nick had a point about us remembering anything right now.)_ "You'll have to give us the speech another time, Ahlbi. Once we've had a nap."

"If we let ourselves fall asleep right now, we'll just crash for the full eight hours." Phoenix poked Maya in the ribs, shocking her out of her growing sleepiness. He turned to Ahlbi. "We can tell you really love your country."

Ahlbi giggled, his hands resting on his head. "Well, that's sure true! I'll definitely keep an eye out for you guys to finish the tour!" He paused, then frowned in thought. "Let's see. I guess I just explained about half of what I usually explain..." He gave the couple a grin. "So I'll give you a special discount and only charge you twenty dahmas for the tour fee." He bowed, holding out his hands to accept his 'payment'. "Thank you for your patronage!"

Maya almost burst out laughing at the distressed look on Phoenix's face. Biting her lip, she pulled out her purse, full of newly converted coins of the local currency, and began to pick through them.

"Seriously, Maya?" Phoenix sighed, but the muttered objection was all he said on the subject.

Once the three ten-dahma coins were in the boy's hands, Ahlbi looked up, pausing only to ensure he had the correct payment. He grinned at the third coin, and didn't hesitate shoving all three into a pocket. "Thank you for the generous tip, Miss Fey!"

Maya hid a snort. "Please, you can call me Maya."

"Then thank you, Miss Maya!" Ahlbi grinned wide enough to show off a missing canine on his upper jaw.

Maya strongly resisted the urge to further 'correct' the name to 'Missus'. As much as she wished otherwise, she wasn't married _yet_. For now, she made do with fiddling with her ring. "No problem, Ahlbi."

The boy smiled, then looked between the two thoughtfully. "Please tell me if I'm mistaken, but are you staying at the temple?"

Phoenix nodded, running a hand through his hair. "We're hoping to, yes."

"I'm here for an ascetic training course," Maya explained. "Nick's here for a couple weeks, just to help me settle in." She frowned, worry tinging her tone. "They offer free board to trainees, don't they? And to their family?"

Ahlbi grinned and nodded. "We board anyone who asks. We'll get out some extra beds, and you can sleep with the monks in the sleeping hall!"

Maya and Phoenix locked eyes, matching in wariness. Did that mean they would be separated? Or would they stay together, but have to share a room with a hundred or so other people? Phoenix was the first to gather the courage to speak, but not on the topic Maya was expecting: "So, um, how comfortable would you say the beds are?"

Ahlbi thought over the question. "I can't really compare. They're the only beds I've ever slept on." He smiled. "I think they're really comfortable, though!"

Maya didn't mind so much how comfortable the beds were; She concerned herself more with how much time she would have with Phoenix before he left. It didn't take long for a crafty smirk to form on her face. She linked her hands behind her back, leaning down closer to the boy. "So, Ahlbi... Are there any private rooms set aside for, say... married couples?"

"Maya..." Phoenix's expression was torn: He obviously wanted to tell her off, but, just as Maya thought, the possibility of a more comfortable bed was a very tempting lure. He didn't object further.

Ahlbi considered the question. "I... think so? If they're free, you can have one, as long as no-one else needs it more."

"Good enough." Maya straightened, clapping her hands together with a smile. "We're practically married anyway. Just sign us up as Mister and Missus Fey!"

Phoenix raised an eyebrow.

Ahlbi giggled. "Okay. I'll show you to your room, Mister and Missus Fey. Just follow me!" Grinning, he spun on his heels and ran off around the pool, headed for the temple doors.

Phoenix extended the handle of his suitcase, using the motion as an excuse to lean in close to his fiancée. " _Mister Fey_?"

Maya snorted as she grabbed her own bags. "The husband of the Master always takes the 'Fey' name. We're too important to change it." She strode off after Ahlbi, hiding a smile.

"Please." Phoenix was hiding a smile of his own, matching Maya's pace easily. "If I changed my name, I'd have to give up on all my awesome name puns... and so would the kids, since they already renamed themselves to match _me_. Besides, what woman _wouldn't_ want to call herself 'Missus Wright'?"

Maya rolled her eyes. "The kids'll be fine. They can just change their names again if they care that much." She shot him a grin. "Besides, what guy wouldn't want to announce how cool their Master-of-Kurain wife is by calling themselves 'Mister Fey'?"

Phoenix's eyes narrowed, and he stopped bothering to hide his smirk. "You just have a terrible sense of humour. You've always hated my name puns."

"Not my fault you're not as funny as you think you are."

"Ouch." Phoenix faked a hurt look, pressing his free hand to his chest. "And I thought, by agreeing to marry me, you wanted to be my Missus Wright."

Maya struggled to suppress laughter. "Goodness knows why I agreed to that. I always imagined my Mister Fey as _far_ more good looking." She eyed the stubble Phoenix had been sporting since his disbarment seven years prior. "And clean-shaven."

Phoenix rubbed his chin with a frown - This was far from the first time Maya had voiced her annoyance with his more relaxed self-grooming standards, and unlikely to be the last either. He was quick to brush the comment off though, brandishing a cocky grin for his fiancée. "Ah, too late. Apparently we're already married, so you're stuck with me." He paused half a second, then leaned in closer to her ear. " _Missus Wright_."

Maya playfully scoffed. "What a bum deal! We have no choice but to put up with each other, in that case." She snatched a kiss while his head was still in range, then bit her lip to hide her smile. She barely even noticed that they'd stopped walking, they were so wrapped up in their teasings. " _Mister Fey_."

Phoenix chuckled, a rumble from deep in his throat, and leaned in closer, his nose brushing against hers. "Aw, what a shame." He curled his free hand around her wrist, and Maya forgot to register she was letting go of her suitcase to intertwine their fingers, the action was so natural to her. "What _are_ we going to do now?"

"Mm, I'm sure we'll come up with something." Maya let her eyes slip closed, her mind totally on her lips as they pressed against Phoenix's.

" _Mister and Missus Fey_!"

The couple jerked apart, wide eyes turned to where Ahlbi was racing back to meet them with an annoyed look.

"I said to follow me! I didn't say to waste time kissing!" His piece said, the boy promptly turned around again and stomped off.

Maya blushed, as did Phoenix. Grabbing her dropped bags, she hurried after Ahlbi and put on a smug look. "You heard him, _Mister Fey_."

Phoenix scoffed, the redness in his cheeks fading as he followed. "I wasn't the one who started it, _Missus Wright_."

Maya giggled. Even if they weren't technically married yet, she could easily get used to 'Missus'... whether it was followed by 'Fey' _or_ 'Wright'.


	3. Measurements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, back in the USA...

October 26, 7:08PM  
Wright Anything Agency  
Phoenix's Office

 

For the first work day without their father around, Apollo Wright thought it had gone rather well. His two younger siblings had gone to school as they always did, while he and his biological mother had held down the fort at the agency. They'd only had a couple of very small 'anything' jobs, but it was the most they could handle with only the two of them anyway. Even so, he was glad in retrospect he'd decided to cancel their regular magic act this week, after what had happened backstage during Sunday's show at the Wonder Bar. Without the requirement of a performance until next Monday, he relished the chance now the day was done to relax in the office's red sofas, mindlessly watching the TV as it played one of the Steel Samurai tapes Maya had left for them. It had been a unanimous vote between him and his siblings to put it on: The Steel Samurai always reminded Apollo and Trucy of their adoptive mother, and it allowed them to pretend, in half-hour increments, that maybe she was still nearby.

Fourteen-year-old Machi Gramarye nestled deeper into Apollo's side, clutching his elder brother's vest. When Apollo had lain on the sofa earlier, Machi had climbed on top and lay in the small space between Apollo and the back cushions without a word, settling down to stare in the direction of the TV. Apollo wasn't going to complain, resting one hand in the boy's golden hair where it pressed into his shoulder, and wrapping the other around his youngest brother's back; Machi had been quietly moping around the apartment ever since Saturday evening, and if Apollo could help calm him with some cuddling, he was more than happy to do it. The teen had only known Phoenix and Maya a handful of months, but he'd long attached himself to Phoenix as a third son, and, though he wasn't quite as close to Maya, he was still very fond of her as a member of their family. He hadn't taken the separation well... and, considering where the pair had gone, Apollo really couldn't blame him.

Sitting on the floor, the boys' sister was bent over the glass coffee table, her attention fully on a notebook she was madly sketching inside. Fifteen-year-old Trucy Wright was grinning excitedly, her back to the corner of the room that housed the television. Although she looked more than fine, Apollo couldn't help worrying about her. Trucy had probably been the most broken up about Maya's departure out of all of them. He thought she had recovered when they arrived at the Wonder Bar on Sunday, but it turned out to be only an act, an act which had ended up causing her to break down in hysterical tears the moment the curtains came down. She didn't need her words to communicate what had upset her, though. Apollo did his best to comfort her, to get everything cleaned up on his own and bring his sister safely home, and she went to bed that night with only a mumbled apology having come from her lips. By the time she woke up the next morning, all that sorrow seemed to have vanished without a trace. As their eldest brother watched, Trucy happily helped Machi get ready for school and bounced out the door as though it was normal for Apollo to be the one bidding them both goodbye. The saddest she'd looked since was the subdued smile when she'd suggested they put on one of Maya's tapes after dinner. But Apollo knew his little sister, and he knew there was only one reason she could have so suddenly cheered up like this: Trucy was definitely up to something. If only he could just figure out what.

The current episode came to an end, the famous theme-song playing triumphantly through the speakers as the credits began to roll across the screen. Trucy glanced back at it, dropping her pencil with a clatter on the glass. "Finally!" She made a grab for the remote, easily snatching it up before Apollo realised what she was doing. In only a moment, she had jabbed at one of the buttons to stop the old VHS, cutting off both picture and sound to the TV.

Apollo tried to sit up, moving very gently so as not to jostle Machi too much. "Hey! What are you doing? You were the one who wanted us to watch that!"

Trucy scoffed, tossing the remote back onto the table and snatching up her notebook. "We can finish watching it later. I need you guys' help."

Machi pushed himself off Apollo, crouching in the narrow section of sofa he'd claimed. He gave their sister a curious stare. "You need us help what?"

"If you come with me, I'll show you." Grinning mischievously, Trucy waved for her brothers to follow her and darted off into the apartment.

Apollo and Machi shot each other confused looks, but both ultimately got to their feet to dash after her.

 

Trucy led her brothers upstairs and down the hall, then, to their surprise, threw open the door at the very end of the passageway. "C'mon, in here!"

"In _there_!?" Apollo's incredulous cry was ignored as he watched his sister disappear into the room beyond, and Machi quickly followed. "Truce, that's _Dad's_ room!" He groaned, stomping after them. "What on earth is so important that you have to do in _there_ of all places!?"

Phoenix's bedroom was wider than it was long, and decorated very sparsely considering it had been his for about a decade now. A double bed was shoved against the back wall, flanked either side by small side-tables. One was still set up with Phoenix's things, but Apollo had temporarily taken over the other, unused one while he was borrowing the room in his father's absence (and it was still a little weird to be using this one rather than the room he'd called his as a teen, which now belonged to Machi). A set of drawers was pressed against one wall, while another held an old desk on the edge of falling apart, its surface covered in scraps of paper that were themselves covered in graphite sketches and doodles (the product of Phoenix's last art trip with Thalassa and Vera). A small pile of boxes sat next to the door into the bathroom, covered in a thin layer of dust that betrayed how often Phoenix touched them. On the opposite wall was the door into the small walk-in closet, and it was here that Apollo found his runaway siblings, standing in the open doorway and picking through the hanging clothes within.

Machi's head twitched towards Trucy before returning to scanning the contents of the closet. "What we looking for?"

"It's blue!" The girl waved at him over her shoulder, busy with her own section of clothes. "And it's got holes in it!"

Apollo frowned, struggling to think of anything their father owned that _didn't_ have some kind of hole or two. It was a relief to hear what his sister was so worked up about, though. He slowly walked over to join his siblings. "Why the sudden interest in mending Dad's clothes? And why only the blue ones?"

Trucy turned to look at her eldest brother with a mischievous grin. "Who says I'm mending anything? I'm just looking for Daddy's old suit." She promptly threw herself back into the search.

Apollo stared, eyes wide. It took him a few moments to pull himself together. " _Dad's old suit_!? As in the one he used to wear in court!? As in the one he wore to our graduations last year!? As in the one _you're always mocking him for not replacing_?!" He sputtered for a moment before finding the words to continue. "What in the world are you doing with _that_!?"

Machi had stopped paging through his section, instead watching Apollo with concern. " _Isoveli_?"

Trucy cackled; With a flourish, she pulled a coathanger from the closet, showing off the blue jacket and matching pants draped over it. "Success!"

It had been nearly fifteen months since Apollo had last seen that old blue suit, and it was looking worse for wear after seven long years languishing in the darkness of Phoenix's closet. Small holes pockmarked the seams, and loose threads hung from dangling buttons. A rip in the lapel marked the spot an attorney's badge had once called home, and from there extended its reach across the aging fabric, threatening to someday tear apart the entire collar. Had Apollo been in a more poetic mood, he'd say the entire picture was an accurate representation of Phoenix's hopes for returning to law. As it was, all he could muster was a sigh. "Truce, there's no repairing that thing... and it means too much to Dad to get rid of. Just put it back, okay?"

Trucy scoffed, putting a hand on her hip. "Who said anything about getting rid of it?" She slid out of the closet and made her way to the bed, where she busied herself disentangling the display and laying the jacket and pants individually on top of the messy blankets. "Daddy used to wear this when he was a lawyer, right? And now his name has been cleared, and he can be a lawyer again, but he's being stupid and won't."

Machi gasped and ran to Trucy's side, eyeing the suit reverently. " _Isa_ wore this when he was lawyer?" He frowned, thinking hard. "It... It not look how it did on video. The one we saw of _Isa_ 's last trial."

Trucy nodded sagely. "Yeah, it's basically rags at this point... Though Daddy isn't exactly known for dressing in anything else nowadays." She pulled a small measuring tape from her pocket, and laid it down on the bed by the jacket, along with her pencil and notebook.

"I need to show you some old photos of Dad in his heyday, Machi. Ones with better stories behind them than that old tape." Apollo couldn't help a nostalgic smile as he moved to join his siblings. In his mind ran a continuous reel of the few of Phoenix's trials he'd been lucky enough to watch in person, as nothing more than a simple foster kid chasing after his idol; Had anyone told him back then that he'd one day be calling that spiky-haired man in the blue suit 'Dad', he'd probably have died right there of pure joy. "There's a reason he was known as the best defence attorney alive." Somewhat belatedly, he noticed his sister's arrangement of tools, and pointed to them. "Wait, what's all this for, Truce?"

"I'm taking measurements." Grinning, Trucy folded the jacket in a way that the back panel of fabric was flat on the bed, and started measuring its dimensions with her tape.

Apollo glanced over to Machi, noting the boy looked as confused as he felt. "Why are you taking measurements?" A moment later, he frowned. "You're finally replacing it for him, aren't you?"

Trucy only giggled in reply, busy jotting down her findings in her notebook.

Machi stepped forward, examining the notebook. He compared his sister's notes and the old suit in front of them for a few moments, then pointed to the picture. "Where is... _legilev_? This part?"

Apollo moved to lean over his siblings and see the drawing for himself: a very rough outline of a body, with firm lines marking the edges and seams of a three piece suit. Around the design were sketched shapes of fabric, pieces that would fit together to make the individual segments of the complete outfit. Immediately, Apollo turned to his sister. "Trucy, Dad never wore a vest."

"He did not?" Machi clutched at his collar, looking confused. "I thought I not remember seeing it, but..."

"I know he didn't." Trucy paused in her work to give her brothers a grin. "If I'm making Daddy a new suit, he needs to move with the times. You and Luke both wear vests, Polly; Daddy would look really good in one too."

Apollo shrugged - he would leave the fashion choices to her - but didn't give up on his questions. "But why replace it at all? Dad's never gonna wear it. You said it yourself: He's not known for dressing in anything as fancy as a suit, not anymore."

The worried look returned to Trucy's face, a look she had last worn right before Sunday's show... and, notably, after Phoenix had broken the news that he wasn't returning to law. "Daddy's made a list of excuses to not be a lawyer again, even though it's what he's best at." Her worry turned to determination. "He won't listen to us arguing with him, so we need to find some other way of making him see sense." She picked up her notebook, showing it more clearly to her brothers. "That's why I'm updating his suit: If he has something nice, _really_ nice, to wear in court, that's one less reason not to go there. If he looks as professional as this again, he might re-think getting his badge back just so he can show it off."

Apollo's eyes moved to stare at the suit jacket on the bed. His right hand had been idly resting on the bag at his hip, and his thumb began brushing against the fabric of his vest. Trucy had made this suit, his entire magician's outfit, for him several years ago, and had more recently made Luke's vest too; She had long proven she was capable of designing and putting together a suit. As for her reasoning... Well, that was a little fuzzier. "I guess... I guess if there's even the smallest chance it will change Dad's mind..." He gave his sister a smile. "It's worth a shot."

Trucy slowly grinned back.

Apollo ruffled the girl's hair, waiting a moment before continuing with a more serious tone: "Only problem is, Dad got this suit when he was about my age, if not a little younger. He might be an adult, but his body, his measurements, will have changed since then. Remaking a suit to the same pattern won't necessarily fit him very well."

Trucy giggled. "Don't worry, Polly. I've got that covered." She returned to the bed to continue her note-taking.

Apollo met Machi's eyes; He could see they shared the same trepidation for whatever Trucy was talking about. Apollo just hoped it wasn't bad.

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/177196045564/tumblr_pdr81v5oFS1uwes7q)


	4. Suits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which secret suit plans are interrupted by a phone call...

October 26, 7:27PM  
Wright Anything Agency  
Phoenix's Bedroom

 

When the phone in Apollo's pocket began to vibrate, accompanied by the soothing tones of the Guitar's Serenade, he and both of his siblings nearly all catapulted themselves off the bed. As it was, the mattress beneath them was jolted badly, the bits of paper and aging two piece suit strewn all over the covers between them abandoned when the trio leapt from the covers.

Apollo was struggling not to swear in his shock. He scrambled to pull the loudly-ringing phone from his pocket, though he didn't need to see the screen to know who was calling him: "It's Mom and Dad!"

Trucy and Machi shared a surprised look, their faces pale, and hurried to return their father's suit to its coathanger, falling over each other in their rush.

Apollo stepped away from the bed to give them more space, plastering a wide grin on his face so as not to sound suspicious once he mashed his finger against the screen. "Hey! You made it!"

Phoenix's laughter sounded more static-y than usual as it echoed from the small speaker. "Hello to you, too. Yes, we have arrived safely in Khura'in, and found the place we're staying in. It's very pretty here. Cold, though."

"It _is_ a mountain country." Apollo resisted a nostalgic smile, firmly reminding himself that, outside of Phoenix and Maya, there was nothing there that meant anything to him now. He eyed his younger siblings stuffing the old suit back into the closet. "How was the trip?"

"Long." Phoenix let out a bitter chuckle. "It was okay at first, getting in a good night's sleep, but then we had the stopover in Tokyo, and the flight to Delhi to get through... Feels like we were chasing the moon the whole way. Land in the middle of the night, wait for sunrise, back on another plane, and the day is gone just like that." He scoffed. "It's still yesterday evening for you, isn't it? Weird to think we've crossed the international date line. The flight to Japan technically took two days."

Apollo snickered. "How's tomorrow morning? You'll warn us if the apocalypse starts, won't you?"

"Ha ha. At least the apocalypse would help us stay awake until the sun sets here." Phoenix sighed, giving Apollo a glimpse into just how tired the older man was. "How have you all been? Agency still in one piece?"

By now, Trucy and Machi had managed to close up the closet again, Phoenix's old suit safely tucked away inside. They were quick to gather around their eldest brother, identical hopeful smiles on their faces. Their eyes were fixed rather firmly on the phone in Apollo's hand.

Apollo smirked, waving off the pair. For the phone, he scoffed. "Dad, come on, this isn't the first time you've left me in charge. Everything here is exactly as you left it." _(Including your old suit...)_ "When are you going to start trusting me with this?"

"S-Sorry, I _do_ trust you, I just..." Phoenix took a deep breath, and Apollo could imagine him pressing a hand to his face to calm himself down. He almost wanted to assure his father he was only kidding, but he couldn't ignore there had been a certain amount of legitimacy to his annoyance in saying it. After a short pause, Phoenix continued, "How was your day? And yesterday, I guess. How have you been since we left?"

Apollo smiled, and moved to sit down on the end of the bed. To his amusement, Machi and Trucy followed him like a pair of ducklings, and settled either side of him. "We've been fine, Dad. Luke was over here yesterday, he was just the same as always. Me and Mom Thalassa had a couple small jobs today, nothing we couldn't handle. Trucy and Machi went to school like they were s'posed to."

Phoenix sighed, sounding relieved. "Good, good."

Trucy made grabby hands at the phone with a scowl. "Polly, I wanna talk to Mommy and Daddy!"

"Calm down, Truce!" Apollo laughed, pushing the teen back while he squirmed to keep the device out of her reach. "Dad, hold on, I'm gonna put you on speaker." He caught a snippet of their father's tired chuckling before pulling the phone from his ear. A moment later, he'd found the appropriate setting and loosely held his phone in his lap, pointing upwards. "Okay, you two, one at a time now."

Trucy didn't hesitate to screech, "Hi, Daddy!"

Apollo almost threw himself on top of Machi in shock, though settled for shooting his sister a glare. "Truce, _volume_! We're not on stage!"

Phoenix laughed from the tinny speaker. " _You_ can talk."

The pair of teens fell about giggling. Apollo just gave them an annoyed look and muttered, "I don't use my Chords of Steel on _the phone_."

Machi was the first to recover, leaning towards the device in Apollo's lap with a grin. "Hello, _Isa_! We miss you! And tell Maya we miss her too!"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Maya's almost musical laughter erupting from the small speaker surprised the trio into silence; It didn't take long for them to realise Phoenix must have also put his end of the call on speakerphone to allow all five of them to talk, judging by the man's soft chuckling audible alongside Maya's voice. "I most definitely miss all of _you_ , too."

Trucy barely restrained a squeal, bouncing in her seat. "Hi, Mommy! How's Khura'in?"

Maya hummed in thought. "Well, we only just arrived, so I can't really say. You'd need to be pretty fit to live here though, what with the amount of steep slopes you have to climb."

Apollo bit his lip. That was a factor of life he'd forgotten about in the years since he'd left... and he nearly wanted to quip that the slopes were even steeper once you got out of the main city, into the parts of Khura'in he'd actually lived in. But, even though he'd finally told his family about that part of his past, he still found himself reluctant to bring it up. He wasn't sure if it was just habit by now, or... something else. And, though he didn't want to admit it, by 'something else', he knew he really meant some _one_ else.

Luckily for Apollo, Phoenix spoke up next - "How was school today, you two?" - and the subject changed in an instant. Khura'in itself didn't come up a second time.

 

* * *

 

When Phoenix and Maya finally bid the children goodbye, Trucy and Machi (but especially Trucy) didn't hesitate in making their displeasure known with groans and loud whining.

"Nooooo, Daddy, Mommy, don't go yet!"

"B-but _Isa_ , Maya, we have more talk about!"

Phoenix laughed. "Don't worry, we'll call again tomorrow."

"And we'll actually have more to say ourselves next time!" Maya giggled, then blew kisses into the phone line. "We love you all, okay? Be good for your mom and big brothers."

The teens mumbled their goodbyes, and Apollo laughed. "Despite these guys' attitude right now, we all love you too. Talk to you tomorrow."

All five were still shouting "Bye!" into their respective ends of the line as Apollo and Phoenix both hung up.

Apollo sighed, lying back on the bed and not even caring that he'd inadvertently trapped some of Trucy's notes underneath him. "What a time for Dad to call. You think he just _knew_ we were up to something behind his back?"

Trucy scoffed and got to her feet, quickly retrieving the scraps of paper Apollo hadn't already flattened. "Nah. Daddy's psycho-locks only show up in person, not over the phone." Having collected what she could, the girl indelicately shoved Apollo's shoulder. "You're on my notes, Polly!"

Grunting, Apollo pulled himself back up to a sitting position, allowing his sister to grab the papers. "You never did finish explaining how you plan to make sure this suit will still fit him. All we've done so far is measure every single seam of _that_ thing." He jerked a thumb towards the closet.

Machi nodded. "And drew pictures, and wrote down lots of numbers, and took papers from notebook."

Apollo gestured to the boy. "Exactly." After Trucy had assured them earlier she had a plan, she had just roped her brothers into helping her sketch out larger versions of the rough outlines of each section of fabric she'd already taken note of, then measure said fabric every which way to mark down on the rough diagram. Once a page had been half-filled with the detailed notes, she'd ripped it from the notebook and left it lying on the bed, moving on to the next. They'd only just finished when Phoenix's call put a stop to the proceedings. "We can't just ask Dad to take his measurements when he gets back, because he'll _know_ something is up. I'd suggest we rope Uncle Edgeworth into it or something, but that'd just make him even _more_ suspicious."

Trucy grinned. "Don't worry, we won't have to even wait for Daddy to get back. I already _have_ his measurements, Polly."

Apollo stared at her for a long moment before his eyebrows shot up in realisation.

Machi looked between the pair, confused. "Why you already have them? I do not understand."

"Because of _Halloween_!" Apollo got to his feet, turning to the boy with an excited smile. "Trucy always makes our costumes, and she insists every time on taking our measurements to be up-to-date!" He laughed. "Sure, Dad's gonna be in Khura'in this year, but we didn't know that at the beginning of the month, did we?"

Machi stood in silence, a slight frown of deep thought etched into his face. Just like when Apollo had first come to America at the age of eight, and when Luke had later arrived at thirteen, Machi had never before heard of nor celebrated Halloween. Trucy had taken great delight in telling him all about it when October began, when the Wrights had begun discussing this year's costumes and making preparations that included Trucy once more taking everyone's measurements. Said discussion had had to be repeated more recently, accompanied by the decision to throw out the theme of 'supernatural monsters' they'd initially settled for, thanks to the distraction of the Jurist Trial, and Thalassa's return, and Maya's departure, but otherwise everything was still on track for the big day on the upcoming weekend. Trucy had even promised to take Machi out trick-or-treating, just so he could experience it while he was still young.

Now Apollo thought about it, October had been a pretty full-on month for the Wrights, hadn't it?

Finally, Machi nodded. "I _think_ I understand now." He slowly smiled. "So, costume for _Isa_ this year is not vampire... but lawyer?"

Trucy broke out into giggles, hugging her notes to her chest.

Apollo grinned. "Guess so."

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/177237482059/tumblr_pdtfdiUmwa1uwes7q)


	5. Trust Abbot Inmee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in Khura'in, Maya is having trouble with jet-lag.

October 27, 10:09AM  
Tehm'pul Temple  
Visitors' Room 1

 

Maya could feel her own brain trying to shut down for a good eight hours' rest. Her eyes wanted nothing more than to close, and, if she wasn't paying attention, every few seconds she would have to catch herself from literally falling forward into unconsciousness. It was probably a good thing she was still sitting on the futon on the floor rather than standing. Maybe it had been a bad idea to hang up on the kids so soon; It had only been after they said their goodbyes that the exhaustion hit, to the point that it was hard to concentrate on even her thoughts for any longer than a few seconds. Had she been more awake, she would have begged Phoenix to follow it up with a call to Pearl and Iris, to Luke, even to Thalassa, despite knowing full well all of them (except maybe Thalassa) were early-risers and very definitely asleep right now... asleep just like her own body and mind desperately ached to be.

A hand on her shoulder jolted Maya out of another near-nap, and she looked up to blearily meet the eyes of her fiancé. He was sitting on the futon beside her, and only barely masking his own tiredness behind a smile. "Maya, try to stay awake. Ahlbi should be coming back soon, and you need to be alert for when you meet the high priest."

Maya nodded, and pressed her palms to her eyes in a vain hope of suppressing the desire to sleep. After showing them to their room, Ahlbi had left with the promise to return in a couple of hours and arrange their meeting with the high priest, who would be organising the special training course Maya was set to take. With Khura'in being as religious as it was, this man held a great deal of power and influence... and, if there was still any truth to that warning Apollo gave her back when she channelled Jove, a man like that was the last person she should be getting herself on the bad side of. For these next two years, Maya aimed to keep her head down and stick to her training, whether or not this 'corrupt regime' and its 'opposing rebellion' were still a fact of life here. Frankly, she personally doubted it, seeing how peaceful and openly welcome Khura'in's inhabitants were so far, but she'd promised her eldest son she'd be careful and Maya Fey didn't break her promises, especially not ones made to her children. Besides, she'd barely been in the country a few hours; If she let her guard down now and turned out to be wrong, she'd not only be letting _herself_ down, but her fiancé, her children and cousins, her entire _village_... The fear of that was almost enough to shock her back into full alertness all on its own.

Maya let out a long breath, lowered her hands from her eyes, then pulled herself to her feet. "What's the time?"

Phoenix pulled his phone from his front pocket and eyed the screen. "About ten past ten." He slipped the device back into his hoodie, watching his fiancée. "You okay?"

Maya nodded. "Course I'm okay." She began to pace the room, forcing a confident smile on her face; If Phoenix asked, the pacing was to keep herself awake, not a nervous habit, and the smile was there for practise, so it would come easier when she really needed it later. "I'm _always_ okay."

Phoenix scoffed, but didn't comment. Softly groaning, he stood up from the futon, hands shoved securely into his pockets. "Ahlbi was kinda vague earlier: Is he taking you to see the priest, or the priest to see you?"

"What's the difference?"

"The location of this first meeting, for one." Phoenix moved to peer out the tiny window set in the wall opposite the door; Maya knew from their explorations earlier that it looked down onto a tiny courtyard with an even tinier garden, and most certainly didn't have anything to do with whatever Phoenix was talking about. "If Ahlbi's taking the priest here, that means I'll be meeting him too, and we'll have a lot more work to do to be presentable. If Ahlbi takes you somewhere else, we'll have an easier time, but I'll be staying here trying not to fall asleep on my own."

Maya's feet stopped where they were as she nearly doubled over in a fit of laughter. The confused look Phoenix promptly gave her made it even harder for Maya to choke out, "Aw, are you gonna be _lonely_ , Nick?"

Phoenix rolled his eyes and turned back to the window. "Never mind."

A knock echoed through the room, pulling the couple's attention to the door. Maya's laughter halted in an instant, and she called out "Ahlbi!" as she bounded across the room to answer. "We were just wondering where you-!" The words died in her throat as she caught sight of who it was standing in the now-open doorway, leaving Maya staring in shock. "You're not Ahlbi."

Before Maya could even begin to kick herself for the stupid comment, the strange man had chuckled good-naturedly, and bowed in the same manner Ahlbi did. " _Hap'piraki_." He was bald, taller than Maya by a head (just like Phoenix, now she thought about it), a friendly smile on his face and the red lines of a tattoo prominent on his forehead, right above the dot between the eyebrows all devotees of Khura'inism shared. He was dressed in loose purple robes held together with a sash, the two separated by a yellow garment that wrapped around his shoulder and right hip, giving his left arm a rather generous extra sleeve. "You must be Maya Fey."

Maya hurriedly nodded, taking a step back and copying his bow. " _Hap'piraki_. That's me, yes." Only now did Maya notice the man's necklace; As she'd expected from a devout Khura'inist, it was identical to Ahlbi's, except that he had three pairs of spiked beads sandwiching the magatama instead of only one. _(Like how, back home, we add pairs of beads the more training we do... And if our traditions are truly unchanged since Ami Fey herself, that means...)_ She gulped down her fear, meeting the man's eyes. _(Get a hold of yourself, Maya. Remember your promise to Apollo? You can't afford to show weakness, not yet.)_ "You must be Abbot Inmee."

"That is, indeed, me." Inmee gestured into the room with a kind smile. "May I come in?"

Maya took another step back and waved the man in, covering her nerves with a smile. "Of course! We have a lot to talk about, after all." She waited until the yellow-and-purple robes had left her sight before closing the door, taking the opportunity of the second with her back to Inmee to steel herself properly for the meeting to come. Kurain Village's entire future rested on this. She couldn't afford to mess anything up. Maya plastered the smile back on her face and turned around, seeing the priest making a beeline for her fiancé.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Phoenix grinned, reaching out a hand to shake. "I hope we aren't bothering you, with you coming here. Ahlbi didn't say he was sending the high priest to _us_."

Inmee laughed as he shook and released the offered appendage. "It is no bother. We do not get many married couples here, so I decided to come see you myself."

Phoenix shrugged sheepishly. "Ah, well, I'm not here for training, actually..."

"Yes, I'm aware." Inmee chuckled through closed lips, the hint of a smile in the corners. "It is a pleasure to meet you regardless, Mister Fey."

Maya felt some of her nerves draining away; The high priest having enough of a sense of humour to laugh at Phoenix's discomfort was a surprise, and far from an unwelcome one. "Um, speaking of my training..."

Inmee nodded, returning his attention to Maya. "Yes, we should discuss it. You are here for the Special Meditation Course for Increasing Spiritual Power, are you not?"

"Uh-huh." Although surprised, Maya kept her hands still, not wanting to give herself away by fiddling with her hair. "How did you...?"

Inmee's mouth twitched, and Maya got the distinct feeling he was suppressing a chuckle. "You sent us a letter. Not many foreigners are so dedicated to take on a two-year course; It was natural I took notice of your name for when you arrived."

Maya tried not to blush. "O-oh." She noticed Phoenix hiding a smirk, and shot him a quick glare before once more looking to Inmee. "We take spiritual training very seriously in my home village. It's tradition to undertake the final course of our training here in Khura'in." She felt her polite smile fading a little, and her eyes drifted to the floor. "Though it's been a long time since anyone had the wish to." The weight of her village's future only felt even more heavy on her shoulders when coupled with the guilt that this was a conversation she should have already had back in May; Her own stubbornness to put this off for the sake of spending more time with her children made her no better than all those young trainees who abandoned becoming mediums to follow the tempting call of a high life in the city. No wonder the Fey clan's elders were so angry with her.

Thick-soled shoes thumped across the floor, darting with deceptive smoothness around Abbot Inmee. Maya didn't need to know the high priest wore nothing more than simple sandals to label the sound as Phoenix's cold-weather boots, as battered and aged as they were; Normally, he only wore them for winter trips up to Kurain Village, and it had been these boots he wore for those too-brief times he accompanied her for training at Hazakura Temple. It was no surprise they had been the footwear he decided to take to Khura'in. The thought was only just leaving Maya's head when Phoenix arrived at her side, and he placed a hand on her arm. The concern in his eyes when she looked up was soothing, though she could tell he was keeping himself just as carefully masked as she was in front of the high priest (hence the hand being on her arm: their usual method of support in public was a hand on the shoulder or back, in addition to spoken words). A part of her wondered if Phoenix had also been given a warning from Apollo, or if he was just picking up on her lead.

Maya shook her head to pull herself back into the present - it seemed her exhaustion was taking her down far more mental tangents than she'd been prepared for - and refocussed on Inmee, who was still patiently waiting in front of her. "I might know what the eventual outcome of this course will be, but I'm afraid I'm not very prepared for how I will get there. This meeting is to arrange how my next two years will go, isn't it?"

Inmee briefly ducked his head in a solemn nod. "I will not lie, Missus Fey: This is a hard and lonely path to take. The Special Meditation Course for Increasing Spiritual Power is characterised by its long periods of abstinence from all but meditation, in some of our country's most sacred places. I myself took it twenty years ago, though the strain on my younger body prevented me from completing it on my first attempt."

Maya reached up to grab Phoenix's hand where it rested on her upper arm, though her eyes remained locked on Inmee. "I can physically handle whatever this course throws at me, Abbot Inmee." She left unsaid how intense her worry was when it came to her family; Could those treasured relationships handle the strain of the distance, and the diminished contact?

Inmee's eyes were shrouded in shadow, but Maya could have sworn she saw them glance between the couple opposite. He smiled warmly. "In that case, we had better get started."

 

Despite the bad start, Maya felt her meeting with Abbot Inmee was exceedingly effective in lessening her fears. Sitting there on the futon, they went over Maya's schedule for the next two years in great detail, almost down to the hours in some cases. The thought of spending weeks at a time on a remote mountain doing nothing but meditating was daunting, but Maya knew she'd done similar things in the past at Hazakura... She'd just never been so thoroughly out of _cellphone range_ before. Reception was spotty enough here in the city, from what she and Phoenix had noticed since their arrival, and she was already worried that calls from the temple wouldn't always go through. Maya wasn't sure she could bear it if, on the rare occasion she even had time, she was unable to contact her fiancé and children for two entire years. Those same calls were the only things keeping her in Khura'in right now.

Okay, on second thought, she was still terrified, just for a different reason.

"I believe that is everything." Inmee got to his feet, a motion Maya and Phoenix quickly copied. "Did you have any more questions, Missus Fey?"

Maya shook her head. "N-no, you've been very thorough in explaining everything, Abbot."

Inmee gazed at her a moment, his shadowed eyes full of concern. "Are you sure?"

Maya dropped her eyes to the floor out of instinct, and noticed she was still clutching one of Phoenix's hands tight in hers; She'd reached out for his support not long after they sat down, and simply hadn't let go since. Her fingers were busy playing with his, and she found herself longing for a ring of some kind to more easily fiddle. Maybe she should have forced him to reconsider not getting an engagement ring of his own. Maybe, despite her wish for a big wedding, they should have got all the legal stuff out of the way before she left. They could easily have saved the ceremony itself for later.

It was only when Inmee spoke again Maya realised she'd been standing in silence for so long: "I do not feel comfortable leaving when something is still troubling you, Missus Fey. Please, I cannot help if I do not know the problem."

Phoenix inched a little closer, his own grip on her hand tightening. He stayed silent, and Maya hoped he could tell how grateful she was for that. They knew each other well enough that he'd probably realised what her problem was long before Inmee had even entered the room.

Maya took a deep breath, staring at the entwined hands hanging in front of her. "It's... It's nothing you can help with, Abbot Inmee. I'll be okay."

Inmee stood in silence for a long moment. Finally, he hummed to himself, then gave the couple a smile. "If I may, this is your first visit to Khura'in, is it not? Such an event deserves a warm welcome." He bowed. "I would be honoured if the both of you joined myself and my lovely wife for dinner this evening."

Maya's gaze snapped up to Inmee's friendly face, then turned to meet Phoenix's equally shocked eyes before returning to the high priest. "You're... inviting us to dinner?"

"You're _married_!?" Phoenix blurted out.

Inmee laughed. "To the best and most beautiful cook in all of Khura'in, if I do say so myself."

Phoenix blushed. As Maya started to giggle, he rubbed a free hand through his spiky hair. "O-oh, um, I just didn't expect someone as deeply religious as a high priest to..."

"To what? Have a special someone to share the joys of life, love and Khura'inism with?" Inmee chuckled, then laid a hand on his chest, his eyes far away. "My lovely wife, Beh'leeb, adores having visitors over to eat her food. She would be honoured to be the one to introduce you to some of our country's traditional dishes."

Maya noticed Phoenix's face twitching at the words 'special someone', and couldn't really blame him; The embarrassment that pervaded those memories of young Pearl constantly throwing that phrase at them wasn't easy to shake off, even all these years later. She turned her attention to the priest. "It's super nice of you to ask us, Abbot Inmee. We'd love to come." As she spoke, a small naughty part of Maya couldn't help checking Inmee's fingers for rings; Finding none, she could only guess that either he didn't wear them in the temple, or wedding rings simply weren't a tradition here.

Phoenix hurriedly nodded along with Maya's words. "Y-yes. That sounds great. Thank you."

Inmee smiled warmly. "Our house is at the top of the city, right below the Plaza of Devotion. We will be expecting you."


	6. The Song of Ceremony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahlbi shows off his nation's young princess.

October 27, 4:51PM  
Tehm'pul Temple  
Hallway

 

After all the trouble they had that morning, Phoenix and Maya decided, no matter how tired they were, they would find it easier to stay awake if they were actually _doing_ something rather than just sitting around on their borrowed futons. With that thought in mind, they left the relative comfort of their tiny room to go hunt down Ahlbi.

When he heard their request, the seven-year-old's face lit up like the rising sun. "You want to finish the tour now!?"

Phoenix winced and stuck a finger in his ear to clear it from the echo of Ahlbi's squeal. "Yes, that is what Maya said."

Maya couldn't help smiling at the boy's enthusiasm. She leaned down, her arms braced against her knees. "We're still pretty tired though, so take it slow for us, okay?" She shot him a wink. "I don't want to miss anything you have to tell us."

Ahlbi giggled, his hands linked behind his head. "Don't you worry, Missus Fey! I'll give you both a tour you won't forget!"

"Or _regret_ , with any luck," Phoenix mumbled in Maya's ear. The comment was quickly followed by a pained grunt.

Maya shot her fiancé a grin as she casually removed her elbow from Phoenix's ribs. "Oops. Sorry."

Phoenix rolled his eyes and busied himself massaging his side.

"You're in luck! The bells just rang for the afternoon Dance of Devotion rite!" Ahlbi waved for the couple to follow him, already dashing through the hallways. "Come, come! If we don't hurry, we'll miss it!"

Maya grabbed at the long skirts of her new mountain-weather kimono and dashed after the boy, finding his excitement infectious. "C'mon Nick, you slowpoke!"

Phoenix scoffed, but his longer legs kept up her pace regardless.

Ahlbi led the couple down below the temple, into a room lit by a handful of hanging lanterns and some braziers dotted around a central stage area that spread out either side to encircle the room, separated from the crowd by a short fence at its edge. The quiet chatter of the small crowd echoed in the blackness, betraying the size of the massive room as it swallowed its three newest inhabitants behind thick crimson doors. The people kept to a clump on the near side of the stage, leaving plenty of space between them and the armed guards standing at regular intervals below the fence. It was hard to see the surface of the stage from where they were, but Maya was pretty certain she could see some kind of shallow pool up there. On the other side of the square, the floor was clearly raised, as Maya could see a half-naked man in highly-decorated purple robes sitting cross-legged, his hands fiddling with some kind of stringed instrument. Above, either side of the stage, Maya could see a large painting of a woman with no face: the "Holy Mother" of the Khura'inese religion.

Ahlbi happily directed his guests towards a quieter section of the 'pit'. "This way! Over here!"

Maya leaned down towards the boy as they ducked between the clumps of bodies, recognising a wider variety of non-monk outfits than she was expecting. "Wow, this is pretty popular, huh?"

"Well, sure." Ahlbi shrugged, still grinning. "Her Benevolence the royal priestess only joined the rite a few months ago, so plenty of people haven't seen her yet. You guys are pretty lucky!"

"Royal priestess?" Maya threw a surprised look over her shoulder for Phoenix before returning her attention to Ahlbi. "Is she different to the high priest?"

Ahlbi laughed, coming to a stop near the walkway into the square. "Of course she is! The royal priestess is a member of the royal family!"

"Ah, really?" Phoenix shot Maya a smirk. "The family of spirit mediums? _That_ royal family?"

The seven-year-old only looked confused. "There is no other royal family in Khura'in, Mister Fey."

Phoenix sighed, giving up the failed joke. Maya hid a laugh.

"Her Benevolence is the daughter of Her Eminence Queen Ga'ran." Ahlbi bounced the final metre or two to his chosen destination. "She performs the Dance of Devotion rite twice every day, while the head monk plays the Song of Ceremony on the dahmalan! That's him up there!" He briefly pointed to the cross-legged man with the instrument, and Maya made sure to commit the image to memory for future reference. Ahlbi dug around in his bag a moment before pulling out two identical pieces of card, which he handed to the couple with a grin. "Here, let me give you these lyrics cards for the song! There's an English translation there too, so give it a read, okay?"

Phoenix and Maya took the offered cards, reading over them in silence. Maya was surprised to find the card split lengthwise and arranged in a portrait fashion: The bottom half held the promised English translation, and the top half had vertically placed lines of characters that she instantly recognised from the many scrolls that littered Fey Manor's walls. She smiled, nudged Phoenix with her elbow, and hissed, "Look, there's a Japanese version too!"

Phoenix blinked, turning back to his own lyrics card. "Huh. So there is. But have you read the translation yet?" He pointed out the English lines to Maya. "Look: 'When dragon and tiger battle, the founder offers divine protection. When the butterfly embraces the mitamah, the favor of the orb is bestowed.' The battling dragon and tiger are pretty standard Asian myth, and asking for protection is just standard _religion_ , but the rest of it I think only makes sense to the locals."

Maya grinned, and was about to open her mouth to reply when Ahlbi shushed them, pointing across the square. "Mister and Missus Fey, it's about to start!"

Below the portrait of the Holy Mother, a young girl was standing, an older woman perched at her side. The girl looked no older than twelve, and had the typical dark and straight hair of a native Khura'inese person, though it was tied in loops that stuck out like ears on either side of her head. Beneath a white cape that hung off her shoulders, she wore a long-sleeved pink dress and dark boots, and held a golden staff in one hand that featured the green flame symbol of Khura'inism on its top. Around her wrists were sizable gold bells, tied together with a long sash that brushed against the ground at her heels. However, Maya's eyes were drawn more to the tiara on the girl's head, and to the red markings on her face: the red spot of a Khura'inist, and twin swipes across the cheeks. There was no mistaking that this was Khura'in's princess.

The older woman, dressed in a baggy dress and purple shawl that covered everything but her face and hands, stepped forward and removed the princess's cape, holding it reverently in one hand while she took the staff with the other. Maya was a little surprised to see that the girl wasn't wearing a long-sleeved dress after all, and merely had the sleeves tied to her upper arms while the dress was attached to a separate collar specially designed to showcase her magatama. By now, the room was quiet enough that even breathing felt like disturbing the atmosphere; The princess's footsteps as she approached the pool in the centre of the stage echoed off the wooden walls, reverberating in their bones. She stood in the dead silence for a few moments, at the edge of the pool, then raised her hands upwards to clang together the bells attached to her wrists.

The ringing of the bells seemed to be a signal, as instantly there was music, and a small choir singing in some non-English chant. Maya wanted to look around to see where it was coming from, but her eyes were glued to the princess on the stage, swooping her arms side to side in a mesmerising dance that was only made all the more beautiful by the swaying of the sash attached to her wrists. By the end of the first verse, the young princess was stepping aside into increasingly wild twirls around the pool, still moving gracefully despite the frenetic nature of the song as it sped up with her, the beat of the percussion growing faster with the plucking of the stringed dahmalan Maya had seen earlier. Finally, with one last frantic chord from the dahmalan, the princess dropped to the floor, the pool before her flashing a strong blue light that settled into a soft glow.

Only once the performance was over did Maya belatedly realise the young girl before her had no back to her dress, instead sporting a Khura'inese character painted in red. She wasn't quite sure how to react to that knowledge.

The glow of the pool faded, and the young princess got to her feet. Without another word, she turned and headed back to where the older woman was waiting with staff and cape in hand.

Phoenix leaned close to Maya's ear. "Should we clap?"

Maya frowned. "Dunno..." Looking around, the crowd that had gathered for the performance was returning to idle, muted chatter, and turning to file back out the crimson doors into the outer temple. "Weird."

Ahlbi turned to the couple with stars in his eyes. "Wasn't that amazing?" he whispered. "Her Benevolence is so pretty when she dances!"

Phoenix smirked. "Is that her name or something? 'Benevolence'?"

"No!" Ahlbi seemed offended on the young princess's behalf, shooting Phoenix a glare. "Her name is Princess Rayfa Padma Khura'in! We use her formal address as a sign of the tremendous respect we owe her!"

"Alright, alright..." Phoenix edged back, appropriately chastised, and shot Maya a silent plea for help.

Maya giggled, then returned her attention to Ahlbi. "That was an _amazing_ ceremonial dance! I'm so glad we were in time to see it!"

Ahlbi grinned, interlocking his hands behind his head. "It was, wasn't it? But Her Benevolence's performances are _always_ amazing!" He giggled, bouncing away towards the door. "Come, come, we have so much left of the tour to cover!"

Phoenix and Maya shared an amused look, then hurried to follow the boy.


	7. Dinner with the High Priest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the Wrights to meet the Inmees!

October 27, 5:40PM  
The High Priest's House

 

In the end, Ahlbi didn't have much time to show them around before they were interrupted by the orange glow of the setting sun. The boy sulked and complained that Khura'in's beauty was impossible to see in the dark, so the tour was put off for a second time, to be concluded another day. Instead, Ahlbi grabbed some spare torches from the temple stock and showed the couple along the path to their next destination: dinner with Abbot Inmee and his wife.

The long, uphill path reminded Maya rather heavily of the stairs into Tehm'pul Temple, except that the road itself was worn smooth and the steep slope was less _steep_ and more _unending_. The sun disappeared quickly behind the tall peaks around them, and though the sky was still lit up, they were quick to make use of the torches. Maya just hoped the batteries would last the trip back; They were a long way from the temple by now, and a very long way up, and the buildings had thinned out to almost nothing all around them. The air blew past with a terrible chill that rivalled only Hazakura Temple in the dead of winter, visible in the mist that puffed out of their noses and mouths with every breath.

Maya shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her torso. "Are we going the right way, Ahlbi?"

The boy scoffed. "Of course we are, Missus Maya. The high priest's house is right next to the Plaza of Devotion, at the top of the city. You can't miss it."

Phoenix made a show of clearing his throat, stepping close to his fiancée. Keeping his hand over his mouth, he muttered, "Unless you don't know your way around..."

Maya quickly shushed him. She pretended she wasn't smiling.

Finally, Ahlbi jumped away from the centre of the road, and pointed the circle of light coming from his torch towards the house in front of him. His grinning mouth pointed back towards the couple, almost shining in the darkness. "Here it is! The high priest's house!"

Maya looked up to see a rather modest building before them, the last in the row before the path turned into stairs continuing upwards. It squatted in the landscape at only a single storey high, small windows glowing with warm light from within. The plaster-covered walls were snow-white, and topped with a simple pastel-green roof that would have been plain if not for the shingles that gave it the traditional wavy shape of Khura'in's buildings. The fanciest thing about the house was the front door, a bright yellow with a geometric design painted down the middle.

Phoenix stepped forward, giving the boy a nod. "Thank you very much, Ahlbi. We're just sorry to have kept you out so late."

Ahlbi shrugged, still grinning. "It's okay, Mister Fey." He held out his hand. "That will be twenty dahmas, please!"

Phoenix stared for a moment, then sighed.

Maya couldn't help but be impressed at Ahlbi's business sense... and sheer audacity. She dug out a few coins from her purse and dropped them into the boy's palm. "See you later for the rest of that tour, okay?"

Ahlbi appraised his earnings, which were quick to disappear into his bag. "You bet, Missus Maya! See you then!" He gave them a one-handed bow, then raced off back down the mountain, the glow of his torch bobbing along the dark road downhill.

Phoenix shook his head. "You are going to give him all our money if you're not careful."

"Pfft, I'm not _that_ irresponsible, Nick." Maya patted her fiancé's shoulder as she strode past him, headed for the door. "Now come on, the high priest will be waiting for us." She planted her feet on the doormat, then raised a hand to gently rap her knuckles on the yellow paint.

It took a few moments for the door to open, revealing Inmee standing in the halo of light, nearly silhouetted were it not for the faint bulbs in Maya's and Phoenix's torches. His face broke into a smile. "Ah, Mister and Missus Fey! Come in, please!" He stepped back, beckoning for the couple to follow.

Stepping through the doorway was an instant relief from the cold, enough that Maya closed her eyes in bliss for a few moments. When she opened them again, she found herself in a long, L-shaped room, its corners marked by crimson pillars that stood apart from the walls. Ahead, the space was set-up as a giant altar to the Holy Mother, complete with bowls of offerings, candles, lit braziers hanging from the ceiling, and even a pair of drums with butterfly designs on the front. Three mats lay before it on a blue rug, separating the sacred space from the rest of the room. To her left, the other end of the room didn't extend nearly as far, functioning more as a route to the rest of the house through a doorway in the wall. Between them, directly in front of her, was clearly a living room, set apart by the red rug beneath her feet: Green floor cushions circled a low table, five plates and sets of chopsticks placed neatly on top. A highly-decorated counter was pushed against the wall nearby, and on top of it was a large set of cubby-hole shelves that sat empty, with the lone exception of one display: a yellow-orange orb in a bronze stand. Nearby sat an old CRT television with a large knob in the corner, and posters decorated the wall above.

The door closed behind them, and Maya spun around to see Phoenix already pulling off his heavy boots. By his feet was another mat, neat lines of sandals arranged across it. Maya squeaked and hurried to kick off her own sandals, shuffling over to place them next to Phoenix's.

Inmee passed the couple, his bare feet padding silently along the floor. "I'm so pleased you could make it. My lovely wife and I were very excited to have some guests over, and from so far away too."

Phoenix and Maya exchanged a smile, then moved to follow him. "Thank you for the kind offer," Phoenix replied. "We haven't seen very much of your country yet, but everyone we've met is so kind to us."

Maya nodded along with her fiancé's words. A part of her hoped this was a sign that Apollo's dire warning was no longer relevant.

Inmee chuckled, and gestured to the table. "Feel free to sit down. The food should be done shortly."

The man had barely finished speaking before the door leading further into the house opened, and a woman stepped out, a large bowl of steaming hot noodles cradled in her arms. She was about Maya's height, her face framed by short black hair that curled slightly inward under her chin. Like her husband, she had the red dot of a Khura'inist on her forehead that nicely matched her red lipstick, though she wasn't wearing a magatama necklace beneath. Below, she wore a pastel green wrap dress, kept closed by two golden clips up by her shoulder. She gasped as she saw the visitors, rushing towards the table. "Tahrust, why didn't you tell me they'd arrived!?" Ignoring her husband's chuckling, she placed the noodles down in the centre of the table and stepped towards Maya and Phoenix with a friendly grin. "It's so lovely to meet you, Mister and Missus Fey. My name is Beh'leeb."

Maya giggled and grabbed the woman's hand first, pleased to note Beh'leeb was a lot to look in the eye than her husband. "Nice to meet you, Beh'leeb! My name's Maya."

Phoenix was next, giving Beh'leeb a short handshake. "Phoenix. I hope we're not imposing, or anything."

"Oh, of course not. It's always a treat to welcome visitors to our humble home." Beh'leeb grinned again, then dashed off back towards the door. "Make yourselves comfortable. Dinner is on its way." Before disappearing out of sight, she pointed at her husband and ordered, "Take care of them, Tahrust."

Tahrust proudly gestured to the door as Beh'leeb closed it behind her. "My lovely wife."

Maya couldn't help a smile. Any remaining doubts she had about the Inmees were gone in an instant, replaced with a certainty that such a loving and friendly couple could surely be trusted with anything.

"Speaking of, is someone else joining us?" Phoenix pointed to the table. "I see five places set."

"Ah yes, I almost forgot." Tahrust gestured towards the door further into the house. "We have a house guest, young Puhray Zeh'lot. He's been living with us for a few months now, trying to find his feet after the traumatising experience that struck him out in the wilderness."

Maya gasped, a hand to her mouth. "What happened to him? Is he okay?"

Tahrust nodded. "He says he is. Truthfully, we do not know exactly what happened, only that we found him unconscious out on the rocks. He doesn't recall how he ended up there."

"Oh, that's awful..." Maya scratched her cheek in thought. "I can't imagine what that must be like..."

"I can," Phoenix muttered with a glare, a hand rubbing the back of his head.

Maya suppressed a giggle.

Tahrust's eyebrows shot up, and Maya could have sworn his eyes actually became visible for a moment below those heavy lids. "You have suffered something similar, Mister Fey?"

Phoenix got as far as opening his mouth before Maya elbowed him with a grin. "Some guy whacked him over the head with a fire extinguisher once and he lost his memory for a bit. He was okay in the end, though."

"That may be technically true, but it hurt for _weeks_." Phoenix turned his glare on his fiancée. "Not to mention, I was extremely confused that entire day."

"Oh shush." Maya playfully nudged his arm. "You still won your case, you big baby. And almost entirely without my help, too!"

"That has nothing to do with it."

Maya just turned back to Tahrust with a smile. "This was years ago. I brought him back to his senses with a good slap, and he was fine."

Phoenix's glare hardened. "Hence my pain lasting for weeks..."

Returning her gaze to Phoenix, Maya flashed an innocent grin. "You know you love me."

Seeing her face, Phoenix couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards. "And it's at times like this I most wonder why."

Maya stuck out her tongue at him. Phoenix hid a snort.

Tahrust quietly laughed to himself. "Ah, we all have our own unique ways of showing we care."

"That's one way of putting it," Phoenix muttered from behind a smile. He only gave his fiancée a cheeky grin when she promptly whacked his arm, hiding a smile of her own.


	8. Children of All Ages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What doting parent can resist talking about their children to complete strangers?

October 27, 5:56PM  
The High Priest's House

 

It only took a few minutes for Beh'leeb to come bustling back in to the room, carrying in her arms a bowl of wrinkled, narrow dumplings that she rushed to the table. "Dinner is ready!" Beaming with pride, she gave her visitors a bow, and gestured to the table, revealing a hand tightly grasping four extra chopsticks. "Please, sit."

Tahrust rubbed his hands together eagerly, and almost skipped to one of the cushions. "Ah, it looks delightful as always!"

Beh'leeb giggled, and busied herself placing her extra chopsticks on the two plates of food already there.

Maya could understand Tahrust's excitement - Her appetite was already flaring at the enticing fragrance that had been filling the room ever since Beh'leeb had deposited those steaming hot noodles. She grabbed Phoenix's hand and rushed to join their host at the table, taking a seat at the place next to him. Phoenix barely avoided stumbling as he was tossed towards the cushion on her other side.

Having placed her extra utensils, Beh'leeb was already striding back to the door further in. "Puhray? We're all ready in here!"

A young man with a shaved head timidly stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with an elbow. His arms and attention were both taken up with a plate in his hands, on which was a short pile of flatbread. He didn't seem to notice Beh'leeb at his side as he walked over to the table and carefully placed the plate down in the centre, next to the other two. It was only when he looked up with a proud grin that he noticed Phoenix and Maya, and jolted back in shock. "Ah-! The f-for...?"

Maya decided to pull out her brightest smile and gave the young man a cheery wave. "Hi!"

Tahrust gestured to the couple with a smile. "Yes, our guests from America. We told you earlier that I'd invited them to dinner."

Puhray nodded and sat down, though he still looked uncomfortable.

Phoenix flashed a nervous grin, one hand straying to the back of his neck. "We don't mean to be a bother..."

"No no, please, you are no bother," Beh'leeb insisted, waving off the comment. She placed herself in the final seat at the table, next to Tahrust on his right; On her other side was Puhray, and next to him Phoenix, leaving Maya completing the circle on Tahrust's left. Beh'leeb pointed out the dishes to her guests with an accomplished smile. "I tried to make some dishes that will be more acceptable to a foreign palate. I know Westerners don't always appreciate curries, or spices in general."

Maya gasped. "Oh, but I _love_ spicy food!"

Phoenix snorted. "I usually prefer the mild stuff, actually. Thank you for your concern, though." He turned to Maya with a smirk. "Good thing we didn't bring the kids, after all."

Maya frowned. It took her a moment for her to realise what her fiancé was referring to, and she had to press a hand to her mouth to muffle her giggles. "Oh, could you imagine? Poor Trucy would just _starve_ if we let her loose in a place like this!"

Beh'leeb softly gasped, and pressed her lips together to hide a growing smile. Tahrust leaned forward, eyebrows raised in interest as he asked, "You have a daughter?"

Phoenix nodded, his fatherly pride straightening his back. "Trucy. She can't handle spicy food very well, but she always insists on getting the spiciest curries she possibly can whenever they're on offer." He rolled his eyes. "Luckily for her, her all-suffering brothers are usually willing to share what _they_ got, so she still eats something."

Beh'leeb giggled behind her pursed lips, and Tahrust softly laughed. As for Puhray, Maya was sure she saw a flash of irritation on his face before he shyly looked up and cleared his throat, attracting the table's attention. "Um, may we eat?"

"Ah, of course!" Still glowing with happiness, Beh'leeb pointed first to the dish of noodles. "This is chow mein," she indicated the dumplings, "this is momo," she moved to the flatbread, "and finally we have some chapatis!" She waved her hands over the table. "Please, take what you like!"

Maya squealed in excitement, and grabbed the closest provided chopsticks, determined to sample some of everything. Chow mein she was already familiar with, and she doubted plain bread was really going to be that different from what she'd had back home... but she had her large stomach to fill, and she wasn't going to just _assume_ the food wasn't worth eating before she'd even tasted it. _(What kind of hateful person does that to good food, anyway? Granted, it's not burgers, but noodles in any form are a good enough second place, salty or not.)_ She smiled at her own internal joke, placed her fourth momo next to the pile of noodles on her plate, then reached for one of the large flatbreads.

It took only a couple of minutes for everyone to have their turn claiming the food they wanted, and the clamour of moving plates turned into the softer clatter of chopsticks as everyone turned their attention to eating.

After a pause, Tahrust took a bite from a dumpling and groaned in pleasure. "My lovely wife, this meal of yours is somehow even more heavenly than usual."

Maya nodded, though her teeth were too occupied with her bread to say anything. After the dumpling and several mouthfuls of noodles she'd already had, she certainly agreed that 'heavenly' was a good descriptor of the food.

Beh'leeb laughed, and turned to their guests. "He says that every night." She rested a hand on Tahrust's arm, and the couple stared into each others eyes with deep, naked affection so rarely seen in public. "My darling husband, as always, I make it with my love for you."

Somehow that line didn't sound as cheesy to Maya as she thought it should have.

The Inmees stared only a moment more before returning to their food. Beh'leeb took only a single bite before she gasped and turned an excited smile on their guests. "Phoenix, Maya! I was going to ask you more about your lovely children! Tahrust didn't tell me you were parents!"

"I did not know, I'm afraid," Tahrust informed her. "This is very interesting news."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Maya snorted. "You actually want us to ramble about our kids for five hours? Because we totally can and will."

"We could ramble about them for _days_ ," Phoenix laughed.

Beh'leeb scooted forward on her cushion, her gaze intensely focused on the couple. "How many do you have? And how old are they?"

Phoenix sucked in a deep breath through his teeth, and his eyes wandered across the ceiling before turning to Maya. "How many, that's, uh... four or five?"

Maya frowned. "Who's number five?"

"Pearls counts, right?" Phoenix waved a hand vaguely in the air. "You're her guardian, officially, since her mom... She was about seven then, wasn't she?"

"Just turning seven, yeah." Maya grinned. "I was thinking more Machi. You're still _his_ official guardian, aren't you? _And_ he calls you 'Daddy'."

Phoenix scoffed. "He calls me ' _Isa_ '."

"It means the same thing." Maya put down her chopsticks and made a motion like she was weighing the words in her hands. "Daddy. _Isa_. English. Borginian." She shrugged and returned to her food with a conclusive air. "Same thing."

Phoenix snorted, then turned back to Beh'leeb. He held up a hand, counting off on his fingers. "That's five, then: Apollo, Luke, Trucy, Pearls, and Machi."

Tahrust chuckled, listening almost as intently to the conversation as his wife. "How wonderful!"

Beh'leeb looked about ready to burst with excitement. "And the first three, how long ago were they born? Are they very close in age to the other two?"

Phoenix grinned. "They are, actually, yes."

Maya giggled, balling up some noodles in her chopsticks. Deciding not to touch on Beh'leeb's first question yet, she joined Phoenix in focussing on the second. "Oh yeah, Nick here told me Trucy was over the moon when she found out Machi was only, like, half a year younger than her."

"She wanted to be a big sister really bad, I think. She was the youngest until he came along." He laughed. "Apollo and Luke spoiled her, now she spoils Machi. They're thick as thieves, those two."

Tahrust frowned. "Thick as... thieves?"

"Oh, it's, uh, just a saying we have." Phoenix coughed, trying to hide his nervous smile behind the motion of covering his mouth.

The priest tapped his chin, intrigued. "I see. A curious expression."

"Though it's not exactly inaccurate." Maya grinned and gently elbowed her fiancé. "Considering the trouble Trucy gets into, it's only a matter of time."

Phoenix winced. "I... think we can trust Apollo to keep an eye on them while we're away. And Luke and Thalassa will keep _him_ in check if Trucy tries involving him too."

Maya snorted. "Yeah, with how much Apollo and Trucy picked up from _you_? That's not gonna happen."

"No, I suppose not," Phoenix sighed, then turned to her with a pained look. "Please don't make me fear for the well-being of the apartment when I get back home."

Maya laughed.

Puhray placed his chopsticks across his empty plate, carefully arranged to point towards the gap between Maya and Tahrust. "It was a lovely meal, Missus Inmee. Thank you." He stood from his cushion.

Beh'leeb and Tahrust both watched him with concern, though it was the former who spoke first. "Are you retiring already, Puhray?"

Puhray nodded, and a shy smile flashed across his face. "I-I apologise... but I have much praying to do tomorrow, and I wish to rest."

Tahrust held up a hand, and gave the young man an understanding smile. "Of course, go ahead."

Puhray didn't waste any time. He was gone from the room in only a matter of seconds.

"I'm sorry." Tahrust turned back to his guests with an apologetic look. "Puhray doesn't function very well around strangers."

"No, it's okay." Phoenix waved it off. "We didn't mean to make him uncomfortable."

Beh'leeb shook her head, but she appeared to be trying to reassure herself just as much as them. "I'm sure he'll be okay, with a little time. No matter how long it takes." She paused a second, then cleared her throat and planted the big smile back on her face. "So, your other children are better behaved than Trucy?"

Phoenix snorted. "You could say that."

Maya gave the door Puhray had disappeared through one final glance... then put away her concern for the young man, and returned her attention to the conversation. Puhray clearly had just the right people caring for him already, after all. "Well, Trucy can always convince Apollo to do whatever she wants him to, and he never turns down an opportunity to make her happy, so he can be just as impulsive as her in the right mood."

"And Luke took a while to develop the confidence to even _try_ talking them out of anything, so they dragged him into a lot of trouble back in the day." Phoenix laughed at the memory. "One time they talked him into sneaking out of school for my birthday, and he was so wracked with guilt that he spent the entire week convinced he was going to be expelled and then disowned."

Beh'leeb giggled, though she adopted an appropriately sympathetic look. "Oh, the poor child!"

Tahrust chuckled. "He sounds like a boy who cares deeply about good behaviour."

"Oh, he _does_! He's such a gentleman!" Maya laughed, then grabbed a ball of noodles from her plate. "Treating people right and giving out puzzles are his personal credos, you know!"

"Treating _animals_ right, too," Phoenix muttered, holding back a laugh of his own.

As the conversation continued, all thoughts of Puhray disappeared from Maya's mind, replaced with the golden glow of the memories of her family back in America. Despite the distance that separated them physically, she felt just as close to her children and young cousin as she had been back home... and she never wanted that to end.


	9. Kitchens and Libraries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maya and Phoenix's first morning in Tehm'pul Temple.

October 28, 7:54AM  
Tehm'pul Temple  
Visitors' Room 1

 

Maya wasn't sure what woke her exactly. The sun had clearly been up for a while, so it mustn't have been the sunrise like it usually was at home. Phoenix wasn't tossing and turning either, nor was he snoring, so his slumbering body still pressed against her back probably had nothing to do with it too... not that she would have complained. Cuddling with her fiancé-slash-pretend-husband was the only thing that seemed to get her to sleep last night, what with the unfamiliar room, the stress of the 'move', and especially with her body clock busy telling her it was still the middle of the day. It was a bit strange that, after fighting off drowsiness for so long, she found it so hard to settle down once she was finally in an actual bed.

But enough reflection on her situation. It was time to get up.

Maya gently removed Phoenix's arm from where it rested on her waist, then pulled back the sheet and swung her feet around to the floor in one swift motion. The wooden boards were cold on her skin, making her shiver, but she pushed past it to stand and head for the sparse dressing table, where she had left her phone. A quick press of a button later, and Maya could see it was nearly eight in the morning. _(Wow, that's really late by my standards. Probably a good time for Nick, though. He's not a morning person, after all.)_ She turned and regarded the man for a moment; No movement yet, so he was probably still asleep. She grinned. "Hey Nick, say nothing if you want me to wake you up by dive-bombing the bed."

"Don't you dare."

Maya's smile fell. "Aw..."

Phoenix groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, one hand rubbing his eyes as he coaxed them open. "What's the time?"

"Eight AM, bright and early." Maya grabbed her robes from where she'd left them neatly folded the previous night. "Though I shouldn't say 'early'. It's quite late, actually." To fight off the cold, she threw off her nightdress as quick as she possibly could, then pulled on her yukata in one swift motion. Once the tricky 'totally naked' step of undressing was done, it was a lot easier to prepare for the rest of the day.

Phoenix snorted. "Late for _you_ , maybe." He stood and slipped off the bed with a jump, only for the 'jump' to become frantic hopping once his feet made contact with the floor. "Geeze, this is freezing! How does anyone stand this!?" He promptly dropped back onto the mattress and clung to the blankets. "I'm going back to bed."

Maya just laughed in reply. It took much cajoling, but eventually she convinced Phoenix to leave the safety of the bed to get dressed and leave the room in a quest for the most important of all things: Breakfast.

"But we don't know where the kitchen, or dining hall, or _whatever_ , even is, Maya."

"Not a problem! We'll just ask someone!"

"And, of course, we don't know if they even allow visitors to join the monks for meals at all."

"Of _course_ they do, Nick. You think they'd let people stay here and sleep in their beds and then not offer them a share of their food, too?"

"Well, could we at least check that before you go ahead and steal said food?"

"Like I'm gonna do that. Besides, we gotta _find_ 'em first."

"And how are we going to do that, may I ask?"

"Simple!" Maya tapped a nostril knowingly. "Follow our noses, of course!"

Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Why does it feel like we spend our entire lives following your nose?"

Maya stuck her tongue out at him, then grabbed her fiancé's arm and dragged him off down the corridor.

It didn't take long before a small figure appeared in their path - "Ah, there you are, Mister and Missus Fey! Let me show you to the dining room!" - and speedily directed them to the opposite side of the temple from where they'd been wandering. Maya decided to ignore the glares Phoenix was giving her as they realised their unknowing error. Ahlbi didn't notice at all, cheerily showing them the tiny omelettes and equally small pieces of buttered flatbread, stuffed with lentils, that was being served that morning, one for each of them.

As they sat down, Maya leaned towards Phoenix and whispered, "Do you think they'd let us go back for seconds?"

"I wish." Phoenix rolled his eyes, picking at his food with his chopsticks. "I think it'd be rude to, given we're eating for free... but I wish it was at least a little bigger."

Maya was surprised to find she agreed. If even Phoenix thought their portion was small, it must be positively _minuscule_.

Ahlbi sat opposite with his own plate and a wide smile. "How are you finding our traditional Khura'inese breakfast?"

"It's great, Ahlbi!" Maya flashed the boy a grin before shoving a package of bread and omelette into her mouth. It wasn't as good as Beh'leeb's food, or egg dishes she'd had before, but it certainly wasn't _bad_. Her only complaint was that there wasn't more of it.

Phoenix nodded, and pointed to the egg with his chopsticks. "I wasn't expecting omelettes, after what Missus Inmee served us last night. It's nice to have something familiar." He then pointed to the flatbread. "And then this bread is new, which is nice."

"Allow me to explain!" Ahlbi held up his own bread. "This is paratha, a traditional food of Khura'in! This one has been filled with lentils, but they can be baked with all sorts of things in them, like mashed potatoes, or radishes, or cheese! Sometimes, they are even baked separate from the filling! When that happens, they are made with many more layers than just the two, and they can be in many more exciting shapes than just a circle, like a square, or a triangle, or a pentagon!"

Phoenix raised his eyebrows. "Huh. Sounds interesting."

Ahlbi nodded eagerly, placing his bread back on his plate. "It is, it is! It's made with wheat dough and ghee, which is a type of butter, and we bake it on a large, round pan called a tava..."

Maya could see Phoenix already starting to tune out. Talk of baking always seemed to do that, and, though she first noticed it after Labyrinthia, she still wasn't sure if it was because of their misadventure there or not. Phoenix insisted it was just a general symptom of his inability to cook, that he didn't understand what people were talking about and couldn't concentrate on the conversation, but he was notorious for worrying about his loved ones and would lie about his well-being in a heartbeat if he thought it would ensure their happiness. Personally, Maya's interest in baking had only shot upwards after their brief stint as bakers, and it was mostly for her own curiosity she ultimately decided to intently listen to Ahlbi's speech on making paratha rather than worry over her fiancé; He was an adult and could look after himself, and if she didn't believe that, she'd never get through these next two years.

 

* * *

 

 

The temple library was located on an upper floor of the building, near the back. The moment Ahlbi led them through the door, Phoenix and Maya noticed the walls packed with bookcases, and the shelves marking out corridors within the deceptively small space. A desk with an open book and a pen sat next to the door, and Maya took enough of a look to notice it appeared to be a low-tech tracking system, though it was difficult to make out the Khura'inese text; Whoever was meant to be attending to it was currently crouched by a shelf at the back, plugging a small pile of identical books into a significantly-sized empty space just above floor level. A handful of monks and monks-in-training, ranging from Ahlbi's age to the elderly, wandered the corridors, their eyes scanning the shelves. For some reason, Maya found herself wanting to chase the people out - _(Nobody's allowed in here!)_ \- and she stopped dead with a frown. _(Why aren't they allowed? I don't exactly have any right to order people around. Nobody here cares that I'm the Mast-, well,_ almost _the Master of the Kurain Channelling Technique...)_

With a jolt, Maya realised the small room reminded her of the nearly identical library back at Fey Manor, a room she'd made a point of avoiding for pretty much her entire life. It had been her aunt's favourite room, and the location of so many of young Maya's private lessons, the ones that had always been the hardest to endure by far. Just her and Morgan and all of those failed expectations, as if the weight of her missing mother and absent sister was physically tied around her neck. Even after Morgan was long gone, her aura remained there, to the point that the only other person Maya had ever seen go near those old books was Pearl. Perhaps it was because of all those unhappy classes that the only book Maya could ever really enjoy reading was the occasional officially-endorsed Steel Samurai novel; All those dry, aging texts about summoning enough spiritual power to channel a departed soul really took the fun out of anything else. And, for all Maya knew, most of those old training manuals they had back home probably originated from Khura'in in the first place. Her heart sank at the prospect; She knew training here wasn't going to be fun, but it was easier to pretend it still might be as long as she didn't know the finer details.

A hand on her arm startled Maya from her thoughts, and she looked up to find Phoenix's concerned eyes watching her. "You okay?" he whispered.

Maya forced a grin and nodded. "Of course I am." Eager to avoid dwelling on it, she hurried past before Phoenix could ask any more questions, and followed Ahlbi down one of the rows of shelving. The seven-year-old hadn't noticed her delay, too busy craning his neck to scan the room as best he could through the makeshift 'walls' that surrounded them. A moment later, he perked up and turned to beckon towards the couple.

"Mister and Missus Fey, come this way!"

Around the next corner, they found Tahrust Inmee, paging through a remarkably new-looking novel. He looked up at their arrival and gave the trio his usual warm smile. "Ah, a pleasure to see you all again."

Maya dipped her head in greeting. "Good morning, Abbot Inmee."

Having caught up by now, Phoenix quickly waved a hand. "Sorry to take up so much of your time."

"It is no bother at all." Tahrust chuckled deep in his throat, and closed the book in his hands. "Now, Missus Fey, I believe we are here to pick out our English-language study materials for you..."


	10. An Unfortunate Tour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maya is shown the ropes.  
> Alternatively: Let's convince Phoenix to do something he doesn't want to do!

October 28, 8:57AM  
The High Priest's House  
Outside

 

As it turned out, the temple library was almost completely stocked with books in Khura'inese, so the few books Tahrust picked out for Maya made up the entirety of their English-language stock. She hadn't had much time to look through them, but she had some idea of what each one was about: One was a guide to the various spiritual sites around the capital that were used for meditation and praying, while another outlined the various courses the temple offered visitors. A third specifically focussed on the Special Course Maya was taking, and the fourth and last book was a general guide to the city and what seemed to be a general history of the nation. It was this last book Maya was most excited about, eager enough to learn about this place that would be her home for two years that she could overcome her general aversion to reading.

After a short break in their room to put Maya's books away, she and Phoenix bid goodbye to Albhi and headed up the mountain once more. Before leaving them outside the library, Tahrust had requested they meet for a tour of the spiritual sites Maya would be using, so she would be ready to jump right into training as soon as possible. Although still long, the trip upwards was a lot more pleasant in the daylight, allowing the couple to admire the beautiful views as they entered the snowy mountaintop region.

Two figures slowly came into view outside the Inmees' house, and one waved heartily to the approaching couple as they came close.

"Missus Fey, you are here!"

Maya grinned and ran the last few metres to meet the High Priest and his wife. "Beh'leeb! Are you coming with us today?"

Tahrust smiled and shrugged. "We didn't see why not."

"I am the High Priestess, after all." Beh'leeb giggled, and leaned in close to Maya to whisper, "And I hoped we might have more time to talk, woman-to-woman." She followed her statement with a knowing wink.

Maya held back an amused snort and nodded. The Inmees both had proved simply fascinated with Phoenix and Maya's kids, and Maya wasn't planning on discouraging that in the slightest.

"No tour of our best spiritual sites would be complete without a short prayer and meditation at each one," Tahrust turned to gaze lovingly at Beh'leeb, "and my lovely wife and I always love to pray together when we can."

"Ooh, that sounds lovely!" Maya clapped her hands together. "Where are we going first?"

Beh'leeb pointed down the mountain. "After the Plaza of Devotion, the nearest is north of the city. We call it the Spring of Meh'ditayshun."

Tahrust nodded. "But we like to save the Plaza for last." He stepped towards a small path in the direction Beh'leeb had pointed. "The Spring is just this way."

The crunching of Phoenix's feet in the snow suddenly reminded everyone of his presence, and they all looked his way as he stepped backwards down the path. "Well, if you three are all set, I'll just say goodbye and head back to the temple." He shot a quick smile and wave to his fiancée. "See you later, Maya."

Maya stared blankly for a second before jumping towards him with a confused frown. "You're not coming?"

Phoenix paused midway through turning away, and met her gaze with a pained look. "Maya..." He shook his head and sighed. "I didn't come here to train."

It took an embarrassingly long time for Maya to connect the statement of fact to why Phoenix was trying to leave. _(Of course... Beh'leeb and Abbot Inmee essentially said we'd be doing a practise run of all the sacred sites close to the city.)_ She wilted in place, hoping her fiancé hadn't felt too left out.

"I support you all the way, but as much as I might want to go with you right now-"

Something in his wording prompted Maya to immediately shove her sorrow aside, and she gave Phoenix a teasing grin. "Ah, so you _do_ want to come? Why don't you, then?"

Phoenix opened his mouth to reply, paused, then lifted a finger with a stern glare. "You are putting words in my mouth." He ignored Maya's snort of disbelief, instead continuing, "I was trying to say, there's no way I'd survive sitting in ice cold water counting to," he waved a hand in the air, searching for a good number to illustrate his point, "a _million_ , or whatever it is. I don't have your endurance."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Nonsense, you survived the Special Course _and_ the Ultra Course in Hazakura, didn't you?"

Phoenix gave his fiancée a long, hard stare. "Maya, that was seven years ago."

"Because you always claimed you were too busy with the kids after that!" Maya's teasing gave way to irritation, not because she blamed Phoenix's 'disappearance' on the kids, but because she knew entirely too well that Phoenix only used their adoption as an excuse to avoid her for reasons she had never agreed with. She didn't want to retread that old argument again though, especially not in front of the Inmees, so she carefully avoided the subject despite her anger. "You're not busy _now_!"

Phoenix simply ignored her. "And if _this_ Special Course is on par with the stuff you can do back home," he threw his hands in the air, "why are we even here?"

Maya couldn't reply immediately, feeling a rush of burning hot rage that she had to fight to calm. She wanted to shout about how much she'd _tried_ to recreate this course with the resources they had in America, but had been stymied at every turn. She had fought _so hard_ to stay with her family, and still ultimately been forced to leave them behind. But Phoenix knew all that already. As hard as it was, she crossed her arms with a carefully constructed casual air. "It's not like we're starting the course _today_. This is just a practise run, nothing harder than what we did together in Hazakura Temple."

Phoenix seemed to sense he'd taken a step too far, unable to meet his fiancée's eyes. Maya hoped the uncertain look on his face meant he was hoping to apologise.

"If I may?" The priest's voice pulled the couple out of their argument, their attention pulled to a worried Beh'leeb and an almost eager Tahrust. The latter had his hooded gaze fixed on Phoenix. "We might have a solution, Mister Fey, if you wish to join us."

Maya glanced towards Phoenix only to see him looking to her, and she quickly looked away again. A moment later, she heard him asking, "Yes, Abbot Inmee?"

"As Missus Fey said, today is meant to be no more than an introduction to the spiritual sites of the area," Tahrust explained. "It wouldn't be a bother to keep our meditations short, to befit the presence of a beginner."

Beh'leeb nodded, gaining some of her husband's confidence. "It would be a shame if you two were not able to meditate together."

Phoenix was silent for a long moment, enough that Maya peeked at him from under her fringe to see her fiancé mulling over the offer. Finally, he nodded. "Yes, I think that could work."

Maya's face broke into a smile, then a grin as she met Phoenix's gaze. He smiled back and reached out a hand, fingers wiggling in invitation. Maya didn't hesitate to take it, then leapt on Phoenix with a tight hug of silent gratitude.

"You owe me big for this," Phoenix whispered into her ear.

With a snort, Maya moved back and whacked her fiancé's chest. She was just glad to hear his resulting laughter.

This day was going to be awesome.

 

* * *

 

This day had been the opposite of awesome.

"I'm really sorry, Maya..."

"It's not your fault. I made you come, remember?"

"I'm still sorry..."

The couple half-staggered up the final steps into the temple, glad only to have finally conquered the endless steps. Phoenix was finding it hard to move, and the steep climb had only made it worse, leaving him slumped against Maya's shoulder. Luckily, she was very strong for her size, and had no complaints about keeping her fiancé upright - single-handedly, if she had to - and supporting his weight with the aid of the arm he'd slung behind her neck.

Phoenix winced as they moved to the side to avoid the shallow pool. "On the plus side, if I become paraplegic, that's more money than I'm earning as a pianist, right?"

Maya tried not to show the fear that flitted across her face, unsure if he was attempting to make a (bad) joke or not. "Are you kidding me? You'd spend way too much on hospital bills and... and _fighting to get the disability pension in the first place_ to make that even remotely feasible."

"Eh, worth a shot anyway..."

A small figure in blue wandered out of the temple doors, and froze as he spotted the couple dragging themselves down the path towards him. After a moment, he gasped "Mister Fey!" and dashed to meet the pair. "Are you alright!?"

Phoenix mused on his answer for a second or two, though his expression never strayed far from 'pained'. "Let's just say icy water doesn't play nice with my back anymore..."

Ahlbi turned to Maya, looking confused.

"We decided to do a short meditation together in the Spring of Meh'ditayshun," Maya explained, "but all the water did was hurt Nick's back."

"Oh no!" Horrified, Ahlbi grabbed Phoenix's free hand to help guide the pair back inside. "You're going back to your room, right? Is there anything else I can do?"

Phoenix managed a small laugh. "Abbot Inmee and Beh'leeb let me lie down in their guest room, and that seemed to help, so I think just going back to the room is all I need."

Maya wasn't convinced. Although she'd finished the 'tour' with Tahrust while Beh'leeb tended to the ailing Phoenix, her mind had never strayed far from him. It had made her meditations far more difficult to achieve and her prayers almost hyper-focused on Phoenix's recovery. She knew a miracle cure would be impossible, but she wanted - _needed_ \- him to be better as soon as possible. "Ahlbi, do you know if there are any... y'know, like a masseuse, a chiropractor, an acupuncturist... or something else like that? They might be able to help."

Phoenix shook his head. "Nuh-uh, no needles please."

"They can do it _without_ needles these days, you know."

Ahlbi wasn't listening to the exchange, deep in thought. "I think..." He nodded, and met Phoenix's eyes with a determined stare. "I will find people to help you, Mister Fey. I _promise_."

Although he was clearly still in pain, Phoenix managed a grateful smile for the boy. "Thank you, Ahlbi. Why don't you go do that, and Maya will help me to our room, okay?"

The boy gave them a nod, then released Phoenix's hand and dashed off down the stairs.

Maya smiled for her fiancé as she continued guiding him towards the temple doors. "Thank you for agreeing to that."

Phoenix shrugged. After a pause, he said, "It's my own fault. Hunching over that piano in that freezing cold restaurant has obviously done its damage."

"I still forced you into coming with me today," Maya insisted. "If I had just let you go when you wanted to, you wouldn't be hurting right now."

The couple paused to climb the steps at the foot of the door, and only once they were inside did Phoenix pick up the conversation again: "You didn't force me. I wanted to come." He sighed, not meeting Maya's concerned eyes. "I just needed the excuse to spend more time with you before I have to leave."

Maya blinked back tears. "That's exactly why _I_ wanted you to come," she admitted.

Phoenix met her gaze with a tired smile. "Well, then we're both idiots, aren't we?"

The couple laughed. It didn't need to be said that they would find better ways to spend their time together these next two weeks.


	11. Resurfacing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise visit with surprising news, at a less-than-ideal time.  
> Alternatively: Hey, look! It's the arrival of THE PLOT!

October 30, 1:41PM  
Wright Anything Agency  
Phoenix's Office

 

It was nearly the end of the first week without Phoenix and Maya, and Apollo thought they were all handling it rather well. The regular calls every night never failed to cheer up Trucy and Machi, and he'd heard from Iris that they had a similar effect for Pearl; Luke always insisted he was used to prolonged periods of no contact when asked, and indeed he didn't seem too bothered missing out, content with the infrequent texts he was exchanging with their father and surrogate mother. Outside of their family, the worst Clay had done was repeatedly joke they were all abandoning him in his and Apollo's shared apartment, and beg for Apollo to return soon; As annoying as Clay could get, Apollo had to admit he was looking forward to Phoenix getting back and finally allowing Apollo to rejoin his friend.

In these final days before Halloween, Trucy had put the "Daddy's New Suit" project on hold, instead focussing all their combined efforts on their costumes for this year. She had even recruited Thalassa and Apollo into helping during any particular slow moments in the office. Thalassa, as she had arrived so unexpectedly only three weeks ago, was happy to assist with her own costume - Telling Apollo it allowed her to 'exercise her eyes', she pulled out Trucy's plans and happily sewed away at the pre-cut pieces of fabric, rapidly forming a black strapless dress with a short skirt. Apollo himself was currently working on Luke's costume, putting together a jacket not unlike the one full of holes hiding in their father's closet - As his own costume was mostly pre-made pieces from the thrift store, it was already complete. Mother and son perched side-by-side on one of the couches in the office, fabric littering the glass coffee table in front of them, and idly chatted as they sewed.

"Did I tell you two how impressed I was when I realised you had become skilled seamstresses all on your own?"

Apollo grinned, trying not to visibly preen. "Heh, Trucy's the better one out of the two of us... And is 'seamstress' really the right term for a guy who sews?"

Thalassa briefly paused in her work to regard her eldest. "What would be the male equivalent? Seamster?"

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a word."

"I suppose one of us could look it up. Does your father keep a dictionary around?"

Apollo shrugged, his attention still on the half-finished sleeve in his hands. "Eh, I'll look later. Kinda wanna finish Luke's jacket first."

Thalassa nodded, continuing to sew together the skirt of her dress. "I know the Borginian word is ' _ompelija_ ', which sounds equally odd compared to ' _ompelijatar_ '. Maybe it is simply because we so rarely hear these words."

"Mm, maybe." Apollo pulled the needle taut to straighten his thread, and was preparing to stick it back in the seam when he heard a knock and the sound of the front door opening. He only had time to put his work down on the table before the sound was followed by a voice:

"Hello? Wright?"

Apollo grinned as he jumped to his feet. "We're in here, Uncle Edgeworth!"

The reception door opened to reveal the older prosecutor, adjusting his glasses with his free hand. He regarded the pair with a hint of a polite smile on his lips. "Apollo. Missus Gramarye. Is it just the two of you here today?"

"Indeed it is." Thalassa nodded a greeting and placed her dress on the table next to Luke's jacket sleeve. "Did you want someone in particular?"

"If you're looking for my dad, he's still in Khura'in until the end of next week." Apollo frowned. "Wait, you knew he went overseas with Mom Maya, right?"

Edgeworth nodded. "I did." He thought a moment, then closed the door behind him. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you, Apollo. I was hoping to catch you at a time your brother was out."

Apollo stared for a long moment, torn between stern determination and outright fear. "R... Right."

"Which one? Apollo has two brothers." Thalassa watched the two men with concerned eyes, but stayed seated.

Edgeworth gestured to the couches. "Why don't we sit down and discuss it?" He took only a single step before turning to Apollo. "Are you alright with your mother hearing this?"

It took a second for Apollo to kick himself into motion, and he hurriedly nodded. "Y-yeah." He carefully returned to his seat at Thalassa's side, and tightly clasped his hands together as they came to rest between his knees, elbows digging into his legs.

Thalassa only seemed even more worried. "What is going on?"

Edgeworth sat opposite the pair, arms crossed. "A certain case that was defended by Kristoph Gavin nearly eleven months ago has been set for a re-trial. I thought it was important to inform you in person."

Apollo sighed. "Right. Yeah. Thank you, Uncle Edgeworth. It's just... sooner than I expected."

"It didn't take long to convince anyone it needed a second look." Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. "Considering how his reputation has fallen these past three weeks, and the 'anonymous tip off' the prosecutor's office received shortly after..."

Biting back a snort, Apollo nodded. He'd never gotten around to looking over his notes from the cases he'd assisted under Gavin Law Offices, as Edgeworth had suggested after the Jurist trial, but obviously the prosecutor had decided to take care of the most pressing concern himself anyway. Apollo was very grateful for that.

Thalassa ran a hand through her locks in thought. "Kristoph Gavin... He is that man who murdered Zak, and Vera's father."

"Although the second has not been legally proven, I think we can say he did." Edgeworth pushed his glasses up his nose. "You are aware he was once Apollo's employer, correct?"

Thalassa nodded, giving her son a glance. "Apollo told me he wanted to work under Gavin so he could help Phoenix, and look for evidence about what he had done."

"Not that I found anything useful," Apollo muttered, rolling his eyes.

"And this case currently being re-opened doesn't count as 'useful'?" Edgeworth shot the younger man a smirk. "Without your input, it is unlikely we would have found the necessary clues to determine a re-trial was necessary."

Apollo tried not to blush as he stared at the floor. He distracted himself by changing the subject: "What about the prosecutor? Degoode, or whatever his name was?"

An amused twinkle flashed in Edgeworth's eyes. "Sebastian Debeste is still planning to prosecute, although he has recruited some help this time. I believe he is very determined not to allow an innocent to be jailed under his direction."

"Right." Apollo nodded, eyes drifting to the window. "That's good for him, I guess."

Thalassa frowned, confused. "But surely plenty of other cases are also being re-investigated to this extent. What makes this particular one so special?"

Edgeworth turned to Apollo, and silently raised an eyebrow.

Apollo sighed. A part of him was grateful for his uncle leaving the choice to him, but he still hated to have to explain it. Reluctantly, he shifted in his seat to face his mother. "Mom... Last year, just after Thanksgiving, Luke was working late at the shelter... and found his boss had been bashed to death in his office."

Thalassa gasped, a hand held to her chest. It was clear she'd guessed where the story was heading already.

"The police decided on the night that Luke was the only one who could have done it, so they arrested him. I wasn't ready to lead a case yet, so Mister Gavin agreed to defend him to help us out." Apollo ran a hand through his hair, remembering the stress of those long days between Luke's arrest and that disastrous trial. "I mean, Luke got off and everything... but I'm certain the man they ultimately convicted was just as innocent as Luke. I've just... never been able to prove it."

"How awful," Thalassa whispered.

Edgeworth nodded. "Thanks to Luke's persistence in documenting his surroundings just after the murder, we know now that the vital piece of evidence that implicated Mister Wildgrube was in fact falsified." He adjusted his glasses, and turned back to Apollo. "I cannot say I know who Prosecutor Debeste is planning to charge as the suspect, but I imagine you'll soon find out if he decides to arrest Luke again. Your brother should be warned that may happen, and he should be hearing it from you."

Apollo tried not to wince. He'd been keeping this knowledge from his brother for almost a year now, on the advice of both his father and uncle, and it had been almost physically painful at times to watch Luke grieve the loss of two people important to his life and find himself able to comfort him; They were too afraid Luke would take the information of Wildgrube's innocence and ruin their fragile chances to eventually implicate Kristoph Gavin for his crimes. How would he take the news _now_ , so long after the fact?

It was the voice of his mother that finally pulled Apollo from his thoughts: "We're seeing Luke for Halloween tomorrow. Apollo can warn him then."

"A good idea." Edgeworth met the young attorney's eyes with a stern look. "This is the only second chance you will have if Luke faces charges again. If you feel you need help, please do not hesitate to speak to your father or myself."

Apollo nodded, determined not to let his brother face wrongful arrest a second time... at least, not alone. "Of course, Uncle Edgeworth."

The prosecutor flashed a small smile, then got to his feet. "In that case, I will leave the situation in your capable hands for now. Until next time, Apollo."

"Thank you for coming, Mister Edgeworth," Thalassa called.

Edgeworth waved in acknowledgement, then left the office the way he had come.

Apollo sighed as they heard the front door close. _(Warn Luke? On Halloween night?)_ He shook his head. _(Surely there's a better idea...)_ He got to his feet and made his way to the desk at the back of the room, already removing his Court Record tablet computer from his pocket.

"Darling?" Thalassa also got to her feet, watching her son. "What are you doing?"

"Getting my files in order." Apollo held up his computer and shot his mother a grin. "Can't miss this opportunity to finally find out what happened, can I?"

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/179076158434/tumblr_pgn2mkUHPo1uwes7q)


	12. A Minor Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Trucy complains and Apollo is already buckling under the weight of his secret...

October 30, 6:10PM  
Wright Anything Agency  
Kitchen

 

"Everybody betray me! I fed up with this worl'!" Trucy slammed her hands on the table as she finished her strangely-accented impression.

Apollo rolled his eyes, picking at his spaghetti with his fork. "Give it a rest, Truce."

Thalassa said nothing, but the glances she was giving her children revealed exactly how amused she was. She had been laughing - if not externally, then internally - ever since Trucy and Machi got home and Trucy started up her 'betrayal' number. If it weren't for the fact that their mother was responsible for dinner, Apollo would have preferred Thalassa go home rather than continue to be an audience to the unintentional 'act' tonight.

Machi frowned as he watched Trucy. "Is that... a reference?"

Trucy nodded. "I think so. Dunno what, though. It was just something we used to do on the playground in elementary school."

Thalassa giggled. "I suppose you _are_ a bit young to be familiar with 'The Room'..."

"Please." Apollo looked pleadingly to his mother. "Please tell them all about 'The Room', so that Trucy will shut up about how I 'betrayed' her already."

Trucy glared at her eldest brother, and stuck out her tongue. "No way! You _promised_ , and you broke it!"

"I got another job! I had no choice!"

"Luke's not gonna have a costume tomorrow and it's gonna be _your fault_!"

Apollo opened his mouth to reply, but was halted by his mother's hand suddenly entering his vision, held up in a 'stop' motion.

"Both of you, that's enough." Thalassa shot the pair warning glares until they both backed down. "Luke will still have a costume tomorrow, regardless of how much time Apollo has to work on it. We'll make sure of it."

Trucy grunted, but accepted her mother's word for now, and returned to her spaghetti.

Apollo sent Thalassa a grateful look. When Trucy returned from school only to find Luke's costume had been abandoned halfway through the day - and after Apollo had promised to help finish it for tomorrow - it had been Thalassa's idea to say Apollo had another job come up. It hadn't stopped Trucy complaining, but it was _technically_ the truth, and it kept them from having to explain what was really going on before they had a chance to talk to Luke first. Considering Apollo's instinct had been to claim he got distracted, he was very glad to have Thalassa's quicker mind on hand.

The silence as the four Gramaryes ate was broken by the sweeping tunes of the Guitar's Serenade. The argument between Apollo and Trucy was immediately forgotten as the two teens perked up with excited grins, which Apollo matched as he reached for his phone. Thalassa simply looked amused as she quietly lay down her fork; Apollo pretended not to suddenly remember this was probably the first time she'd heard his ringtone as he abruptly ended it with a press of his finger.

"Dad!"

"Apollo, hey." Phoenix sighed, sounding particularly tired. "Did you kids have a good day?"

Apollo grinned as he quickly flicked on the speaker (a very familiar action now he'd done it every day for nearly a week), and placed the phone on the table. "Well, I guess that depends on who you ask. For example, I think I had a very good, busy day. Trucy, however-"

"Polly broke his promise!" Trucy declared.

Thalassa rolled her eyes. "Trucy, what did I just say?"

Trucy ignored her mother, her full attention on the phone. "He promised to help me finish everyone's Halloween costumes, and he was going to do Luke's today while we were at school, but we got home, and he'd barely touched it!"

"I got a _job_!" Apollo growled. "I was _busy_!"

Thalassa sent her daughter a stern glare, eager to end the fight before it began. "It will get finished for tomorrow evening, Trucy. Please stop harassing your brother."

Trucy pouted, but obeyed the order.

The kids weren't surprised to hear Maya's voice from the phone next: "Thank you, Thalassa. Even if they won't listen to anyone else, they'll listen to you."

Thalassa smiled. "I wouldn't say that. It's good to hear your voice though, Maya. I'm told your trip is going well so far?"

Maya giggled. "As well as it can, I suppose! I've done a few short training sessions around the place, and Nick here has acquainted himself with the city a little more."

"When I can," Phoenix muttered. "Still finding it hard to move around sometimes..."

Everyone at the table winced in sympathy. Phoenix's back troubles had come out of the blue from their perspectives, but they all knew how Phoenix liked to hide things and keeping quiet on any growing troubles with his back was _very_ like him. They just wished he'd let on that he was having issues before it literally incapacitated him.

Maya tsked. "But you're doing a lot better thanks to all the help Ahlbi found for you, right?"

"And how much money are we wasting there?"

"The important thing is," Maya pointedly ignored Phoenix's comment, "you'll be back to normal before you have to fly home next week. Okay?"

Phoenix grumbled, but seemed to agree.

Machi shifted forward in his seat hesitantly. " _Isa_? What will we do tomorrow? We will be outside for Halloween and miss your call..."

Thalassa patted the boy's shoulder, and Trucy, who was sat next to him, leaned over to envelop her younger brother in a hug.

"Well, I guess we'll have to do the call once you get back." The smile was audible in Phoenix's voice, and far more welcome than his earlier grumbling. "Can't have you missing your first Halloween because of us."

"All the more reason not to stay out too late." Thalassa shot a warning look in Trucy's direction, though it was tempered by a small smile. "Aside from Machi's curfew, of course."

Machi blushed and picked at his food.

Trucy groaned. " _Moooooom_..."

"Hey, I know!" The distinct sound of Maya muffling her own squeal of glee echoed from the other end of the phone line. "How about you guys call us for a change? We've got a quiet morning tomorrow, and you'll know better than us when you'll be able to talk!"

Trucy had no such volume control, squealing loud and clear right into Machi's ear. She barely noticed him flinching away from her in response, too busy shouting "That's an awesome idea! Let's do it!"

Machi nodded, a small smile on his face. "That is good. We do that?"

Apollo grinned. "I'm happy to switch it up tomorrow. So I guess that's the plan, then."

Machi giggled, blushing hard.

 

* * *

 

It took a while for Apollo's younger siblings to finish telling Phoenix and Maya all about their day at school, and to go over their plans for Halloween tomorrow night. Apollo worried he wasn't going to get a chance to tell their father about Edgeworth's visit, and ask for advice on how to tell Luke. He had resolved to let them hang up and then hide away to call Phoenix back when, once again, his mother threw a curveball:

"Alright, I think it's time you two finished your dinner. Apollo, didn't you want to talk to Phoenix about the job you had today?"

Apollo was too surprised to reply, staring at Thalassa's gentle eyes. "Uh...?" He shot a wary glance towards his siblings, more questioning his mother than checking on the teens.

"A job, huh?" Phoenix chuckled. "You got an interesting one today?"

Apollo blushed. "Uh, I'd rather discuss it in private, if that's okay."

Trucy rolled her eyes. "Ugh, if you _have_ to." Apollo suspected she wasn't as bothered as she appeared, as she followed up her complaint by grinning at the phone and calling, "Bye, Daddy! Bye, Mommy Maya!"

"Bye, _Isa_ and Maya!" Machi giggled. "We will talk tomorrow!"

"We certainly will," Phoenix said. "We love you all, don't forget."

Maya softly laughed, but her tone betrayed how much she hated to be ending the conversation. "Bye, kids. We'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Don't forget to call us!"

"We won't!" Trucy answered.

"Until then." Smiling, Thalassa picked up the phone from the table and handed it to Apollo.

Apollo sent his mother a grateful look, then took the phone off speaker and retreated upstairs.  
  
Only once he was safely behind closed doors in the master bedroom did Apollo finally have the courage to speak openly, and pressed the phone to his ear. "Dad? You still there?"

"Yep, I'm here." Phoenix cleared his throat. "Uh, Maya's here too, but I turned off speaker. I wasn't sure if you were okay with her hearing this."

Apollo shrugged. "If you want. It's just... Uncle Edgeworth came by today, and he said they've reopened the shelter case."

"Shelter...?" Phoenix's confused tone gave way to a barely audible gasp. "Is Luke okay?"

"I haven't told him yet. And Uncle Edgeworth isn't sure if he'll be arrested again or not." Apollo sank onto the bed, suddenly feeling exhausted. "I'm not even sure _how_ to tell him. We've hid this for almost an _entire year_..."

Phoenix sighed. "Now I see what was so important you couldn't talk about it in front of everyone."

"Well, Mom Thalassa knows. She was here when Uncle Edgeworth came by."

Phoenix hummed an acknowledgement. It took him a long moment to finally reply: "I assume you've been preparing a case?"

Apollo nodded, forgetting his father couldn't see him. "That's what was keeping me too busy to finish that costume for Trucy. I had to dig up all my old files from the first trial, and go over all the evidence and testimony, and work out a basic argument for if they go after Luke, or stay with Reindeer... and I couldn't think of anyone else they'd be accusing, or I'd've done more then just them." He sighed, pressing a hand to his face. "And then I was worrying over how to break this to Luke... It took him so long to recover from the first trial, and I'm not sure he ever really got over it. When he finds out we were deliberately hiding the truth from him, he's... he's not gonna take it well."

"Mm-hm." Phoenix also sighed. "I don't imagine the Prosecutor's Office would delay in getting the re-trial set up. I wouldn't worry about the trial itself - You've proven you can handle whatever it's likely to throw at you."

Apollo couldn't help the smile spreading across his face. "Thanks, Dad." The smile was quick to die, however. "What about Luke? How am I supposed to... to _break his heart_ like that?"

Phoenix hummed in thought. "Before we worry about the how, _when_ are you planning to tell him? It will have to be as soon as possible."

Although he knew how true that was, Apollo hated hearing 'soon' from his father's lips. "Well, big news like this would best be explained in person. We're seeing him tomorrow for Halloween, but... I _can't_ tell him tomorrow! It would ruin his entire holiday!"

Phoenix seemed to know how aware Apollo was of his own weak excuse, given the thoughtful grunt he made. Regardless, he didn't comment. "Sunday then. Have him come round to the office, get him somewhere private away from your siblings, and tell him then."

Apollo still hated the idea, but accepted it for now. "And then what? What do I say?"

"Just be frank. Explain we wanted to spare his feelings until we were able to act on this, tell him Gavin forged evidence in his trial, then bring up the re-trial." Phoenix paused, a smile in his voice. "Luke's very logical, and stronger than he looks. If he knows why we kept the secret, he'll know there's little point being angry at us. Just trust him."

Apollo fretted for a few more moments before sighing. "Alright. Yeah. That makes sense."

"Good." Phoenix softly chuckled. "I'm very proud of you, you know that? Keep me updated."

"I will." The smile on Apollo's face came easily now. "Thanks, Dad."

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/179110494324/tumblr_pgoy3qg86q1uwes7q)


	13. A Scary Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the costumes have reached the point of being 'self-referential' and just kept going.  
> Alternatively: Is this the first time I've posted a Halloween chapter in October?

October 31, 6:22PM  
People Park

 

"This way, this way!"

Apollo winced at his sister's shout, but followed her towards the lines of stalls regardless. "Why this way?"

Trucy shrugged. "Why not?"

Apollo rolled his eyes.

Next to Apollo, Luke stifled a giggle and turned to his elder brother. "It's as good a reason as any."

"Whatever..." Apollo hid a smile and stuck by Luke's side.

It had been a busy day, so finally arriving at the festivities in the park was a welcome opportunity to relax. Trucy was still holding a grudge about Apollo's 'job' keeping him from helping to finish Luke's costume, especially since, despite Thalassa's promise, it did not get completed to her original plans. Luke hadn't complained, cheerful as always simply to have one of his sister's handmade costumes to wear, but that hadn't stopped Trucy. Thus, here he stood in a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, wearing a jacket that lacked buttons and most of its collar. To top it off, he'd appeared that evening lacking his usual paperboy cap, having replaced it with a dark blue fedora that matched the suit surprisingly well.

"It was my dad's," he'd explained when Thalassa asked. "That's who I'm dressed as today. And it honestly doesn't matter that the jacket isn't finished; I love it."

Their change of theme this year might have seemed totally random to a stranger, but given the shake-up their family unit had gone through in just the last month, ditching 'supernatural monsters' for something as corny as dressing up as each other (or as dead relatives, or their younger selves) made sense to them. Trucy had initially suggested Phoenix for Luke (probably intending to practise her suit-making abilities, Apollo thought), but given Phoenix wore a suit identical to what Clark Triton had once worn, Luke requested to be his birth father rather than adopted one. Apollo, after everything he had learned about Jove Justice in the past few weeks, followed Luke's lead, and was thus now dressed in a small red jacket and matching pants, a floppy black hat, white gloves and a yellow turtleneck. Thalassa had even leant him one of her guitars, one she judged as most representative of her first husband. When she saw Apollo in the complete get-up, tears had actually begun streaming down her face, she was so overwhelmed with how much he resembled Jove as he'd looked the last time she ever saw him. Her children had freaked out a little, but after a few minutes in private to calm down, Thalassa had recovered enough for the group to finally head out.

Luke adjusted the red tie under his collar. "You know, I contemplated trying to grow a full beard like my dad's, just for tonight. I'm a little curious how much I can make myself resemble him."

Apollo snorted. "Just 'cause _I'm_ the spitting image of my father, doesn't mean _you_ have to be."

"Well, I _did_ only think of it tonight, so it's not like I had the time." Luke paused, then snickered. "Wouldn't that just be so anticlimactic if we found my mum tonight because she recognised me dressed up as Dad?"

The brothers laughed together for a few moments, before more serious thoughts silenced them. Judging by the longing look on Luke's face, Apollo knew he was regretting joking about Brenda Triton's disappearance, and he still missed her terribly even all these years after that fateful car crash that had separated them. Apollo himself was dwelling on a more recent tragedy: He still dreaded having to tell his brother about Edgeworth's visit to the agency the previous day, and that dread battled with the knowledge that Luke deserved to hear the secrets that had been kept from him. Phoenix had allowed Apollo to wait for Sunday - _(By all the cursing in the world, that's_ tomorrow _!)_ \- but a part of him had been aching to let slip the moment he saw Luke's face only an hour before. It was almost physically painful to hold himself back.

Thalassa dawdled a little from where she'd been following her teenage offspring, and watched the young men approach with a worried look. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine, Thalassa." Luke beamed very convincingly and tipped his hat in her direction. "Just talking."

Apollo forced a smile of his own and nodded in agreement, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. "Yep. We're fine, Mom."

Thalassa seemed unconvinced, but let them be. It was a little strange to watch her walk away while wearing something so similar to Trucy's on-stage magician's get-up, but that was only a consequence of Thalassa's own Gramarye outfit so closely resembling Trucy's. Apart from the obvious size difference, the only changes Apollo could see were the addition (or re-addition?) of the card suits on the ends of the cape and that Thalassa had both ears pierced while Trucy only had one. As strange as it was, Thalassa had had no objection to recreating an outfit from her younger years when Trucy had suggested it, so Apollo saw no reason to complain.

After all, seeing Thalassa in her costume was nowhere near as strange as it was to see Machi in his.

Apollo had no idea what had possessed Trucy to come up with what she had deemed her "best idea in the history of _ever_!": Dressing up herself and Machi for Halloween as... each other. As they were so similar in both height and build, there wasn't much need to prepare anything special, outside of what each deemed necessary in the way of comfort to wear the other's stage clothes. For Trucy, that involved finding a binder to flatten her chest, as she said Machi's frilly white shirt simply "looked better" without even the barest hint of breasts behind it. As for Machi, he'd been uncomfortable with the idea of Trucy's dress on its own, so he had acquired some black shorts to wear underneath. As for the wider chest of said dress, he'd been surprisingly gung-ho about borrowing one of his sister's bras, though Apollo had no idea what they'd stuffed it with to fill out the makeshift 'cleavage'. Machi had also had to forgo Trucy's earring, but as his hair generally covered his ears anyway, that wasn't exactly noticeable. He had gone trick-or-treating with Trucy and Clay before the sun set, and yet somehow was still charging around at top-speed alongside his sister now they had moved on to the annual fair in People Park. Apollo could only imagine what the two teenagers had gotten up to before that had convinced Clay to retire early tonight, but he did envy his friend a little after how much of today the eldest Wright had spent failing to complete Luke's costume. It was tiring enough just watching Machi running after Trucy so happily, one hand on her top hat to keep it on his head, and her blue cape flapping behind him.

Trucy paused in her mad dash around the stalls, and lifted the sunglasses on her face to peer off into the distance. A moment later, a wide grin spread across her face, and she turned to her elder brothers. "Polly! Luke!"

Said brothers shot each other confused looks. "What is it, Trucy?" Luke called.

"Come see!" She beckoned the pair excitedly, then charged off to a stall just ahead of them, Machi at her heels.

Apollo strained to see where Trucy was headed, but the tall figure of Thalassa (also following her) blocked his view. At his side, Luke seemed to have better luck, as he soon broke out in a wide grin and pressed a hand to his mouth to hide a laugh. Before Apollo could ask what was going on, Luke had grabbed his arm and was purposely striding after Trucy. Apollo complained, "Hey!", but Luke just ignored him.

"Mister and Missus Kitaki!"

Apollo froze. Before he could even think to pull himself from his brother's grip, he found himself standing in front of a small table, packed to the brim with various kinds of baked goods. Behind it stood two imposing figures in black kimonos: The taller one looked down on them all from under thick eyebrows, his awe-imposing aura impeded only by the cheerful yellow apron on his front. The shorter one, her face framed by a large red-and-yellow bow, brushed at the pattern of flowers on her clothes before noticing the approaching men and parting her painted red lips in a broad grin.

"Well, if it isn't the lawyer who saved our boy!" Little Plum Kitaki laughed bodily and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Apollo noted with some relief that her 'broom' was nowhere in sight this time. "Nice to see you again, kiddo!"

Big Wins Kitaki nodded his head in acknowledgement of Apollo's arrival, the ghost of a smile in the corners of his lips.

Apollo forced a grin, and nervously waved. "Mister and Missus Kitaki, hey. It's... been a while."

Luke looked around curiously. "Wocky isn't with you tonight?"

Plum shook her head. "Nah, not right now. He's doing a lot better than he was, of course. He just don't like the idea of selling stuff alongside his old man and woman, right, Boss?"

Wins nodded sagely. "He wished to take his own ideas to the streets. Advertise the family business... and give back to the community."

"Ooh, like giving to charity and stuff?" Trucy bounced on her heels. "That sounds so cool!"

"We're happy to hear he stopped fighting with you." Luke chuckled, genuinely relieved, though his eyebrows were still held tight with worry. "We were very worried about him after what happened with, uh..." he paused, searching for the best words to avoid further potential hurt, "his former fiancée."

Plum frowned, her lips pressed together. "Yes, well. It's certainly better for all of us she's out of the picture now."

Wins blinked, his puppy-dog eyes becoming visible under his thick brows. "She wanted the life of a criminal... and she got one. We returned to our Eastern roots." He reached for one of the small cylindrical cakes on the table and held it up, and Apollo noticed it had a darkened symbol painted on the top. "This is how we write 'root', capisce?"

His wife laughed. "Spreadin' the culture, and givin' back to the people!"

Wins held up a second cake, with a different symbol on it. "And this is how we write 'people', alright?"

Only now did Apollo think to look down at the table of wares, giving it more attention than the passing glance he'd thrown as he arrived. A sign hanging in front labelled the stall as 'Kitaki Pastries', which made sense as a business name even it it was a little bland in his opinion. A significant section of the tabletop was dedicated to the round cakes with the various symbols painted on, but around them were various other small pastries, muffins, and pies. To Apollo's surprise, they actually looked tasty... the last thing he'd expect from former gangsters _or_ bland business names.

Meanwhile, Machi seemed to have overcome his shyness, starkly reminding Apollo that his youngest brother (and their mother, of course) was even there. "That is very interesting..." He pointed at the cakes. "What kind of... writing? What language?"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'script', Machi. It looks like Chinese or Japanese to me." Luke directed a smile to the Kitakis. "Is that right?"

Plum laughed. "Got it in one! I forgot you were the one with all the facts!"

Luke blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, I just do a lot of reading, that's all."

Thalassa examined the pies appreciatively. "They look delicious... and certainly smell so, too."

"Why, thank you!" Plum stood up straighter at the praise. "We've still got a few pumpkin pies left, if you're into the holiday spirit tonight."

Before the Wrights could discuss their answer, Wins was leaning down and putting one of the pies into a small paper bag. "Mister Wright... When we last met, I promised you this." He held out the bag. "One of our Kitaki Lime Pies. Free of charge."

Apollo reached out and gingerly took the bag, surprised. "Uh, thank you, Mister Kitaki." He peeked inside, and saw nothing more than a regular pie, just big enough to be a decently-sized meal for one, and small enough to be eaten on the go; Nothing suspicious about it in the least. Truthfully, he'd totally forgotten anything about a promised pie, but he imagined he would have dismissed it as a potential threat at the time, given who it was coming from. _(Maybe I should be taking a leaf from Luke and Trucy's book, and actually try to trust someone for once...)_ He met Wins' gaze with a smile. "It looks great. I can't wait to eat it."

Wins' mouth twitched in another of his almost-smiles.

"If the rest of you want something," Plum waved a hand over their wares, "we're more than happy to offer a one-time-only discount to your family. Right, Boss?"

Her husband simply nodded. It was unclear if he was happy or not with her seemingly on-the-spot decision.

Before Apollo could turn them down, Trucy was bouncing with glee. "That's so kind! Thank you so much!"

"Yes, thank you, Missus Kitaki!" Luke pulled his wallet from a pocket, waving off Thalassa's attempts to do the same. "Please Thalassa, let me. You've already done so much for us these past few weeks."

Thalassa looked like she wanted to protest, but Luke's gentlemanly nature stayed her hand. "Alright, if you insist."

Machi seemed as excited as Trucy, looking all over with table with his hands over his mouth. "I... I do not know what to pick!"

Luke chuckled and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Well, let's find something you like the look of..."

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/179143165754/tumblr_pgqr3fqQfi1uwes7q)


	14. Suspiecious Bakery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apollo hates talking about underwear, especially in front of former mobsters.  
> (I do not apologise for the pun in the title. Especially not to those of you who already saw it on Tumblr. :D )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I usually do for an in-fic Halloween, I illustrated everyone's costumes! You can see the pic over on my Tumblr [here](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/post/179176722982/oh-hey-look-its-been-ages-since-i-made-one-of).

October 31, 6:37PM  
People Park

 

While Luke was helping Trucy and Machi pick out a pastry or pie they wanted, Thalassa turned to her eldest. "Trucy said you knew these people, but she didn't mention they were clients of yours."

Apollo blushed, tucking his own pie into one of the pockets in his jacket. "Ah, yeah, I defended their son. My second case ever, actually." He gestured to his younger siblings. "Luke and Trucy helped me out a lot."

"You wanna hear the story, Mommy?" Trucy barged her way into the conversation with a large grin, apparently already done with Luke. "It's really fun!"

Apollo shot her a warning frown. "It's not that fun."

Thalassa seemed quietly amused, and to Apollo's annoyance, she turned her attention to his sister. "I'd love to hear it, dear."

Trucy shot a triumphant smirk at Apollo, then turned back to Thalassa. "Well, it all started when Daddy got run over by a car!"

"Goodness...!" Thalassa held a hand to her chest, shocked.

Apollo sighed and crossed his arms. "He was just grazed, not run over."

Plum left the packing of pastries to her husband and turned her full attention to their conversation. "It happened right outside our house. The Boss and I tried to help 'im, but he insisted on walking it off." She growled. "Dumb doctor sprayed paint all over our gate. Took me _days_ to clean up."

"And _then_ ," Trucy continued, "after Daddy was at the hospital, a thief came by and-"

Apollo paled as he realised where Trucy's tale was going, and he quickly grabbed her from behind in a quick hug, one hand firmly planted over her mouth. "AND, we caught him, and Wocky was accused of murder, and I was hired to defend him, and we won the case. That's it."

Trucy tried and failed to fight off Apollo's tight hold, her complaints nothing more than muffled gibberish.

By now, Luke and Machi had turned around, paper bags of pastries and pies in hand. Machi only looked confused (mirroring Thalassa's growing concern), but Luke was stifling a laugh. "Apollo, there's no need to be so embarrassed about-"

Apollo's glare hardened in his brother's direction. "THAT'S IT."

Luke rolled his eyes, though the smile didn't leave his face.

Trucy grunted in annoyance, but finally stopped fighting Apollo and stood in silent protest, her arms crossed.

Plum smirked. "Still trying to avoid taking the credit? What kind of man are you, Mister Wright?"

Apollo felt his face turn red. _(An alive one. I'm not bringing up your bloomers in front of your ex-gangster husband.)_ He shot a glance at Wins (already busy with another customer) and clutched Trucy tighter.

To Apollo's annoyance, Luke turned to Thalassa and Machi. "As well as defending Wocky, finding Papa's hit-and-run driver, and finding Mister Eldoon's missing noodle cart, Apollo also identified a serial thief that had that same night hit both Trucy and Missus Kitaki here."

Thalassa still looked confused, but gave Apollo a warm smile. "Then, well done, Apollo. You'll have to tell us the full story later."

Machi eyed the now-bored Trucy still trapped in their eldest brother's grip. "Why you do not want us to know this?"

Trucy mumbled something into Apollo's gloved palm.

Apollo pressed his lips together for a few moments, considering his reply. "I have my reasons... not to talk about it in public."

Machi frowned. After several agonising seconds of thought, he nodded. "Okay."

Apollo sighed in relief. Finally, he released his grip on Trucy; It took her a moment to register the action, at which point she promptly performed an over-dramatic gasp for air and staggered away from him. Apollo tried not to smile.

"Mommy, he was suffocating me!" Trucy pouted up at her mother while pointing accusingly at her eldest brother, ignoring the giggles of Luke and Machi behind her.

Thalassa patted her daughter's shoulder, failing to hide her amusement. "Oh dear. But it seems you're okay now, aren't you?"

Trucy continued to pout as she nodded.

Apollo noticed both Kitakis were now busy with newcomers to the stall, effectively ending their conversation for now. _(Well. Definitely a bad idea to be socialising while trying to attract paying customers, anyway.)_ Leaving them to their business, he gestured for his own family to move on. "C'mon, let's go. We've got the whole rest of the fair to explore."

As they walked away, Machi waved at the busy couple behind them. "Thank you for the food!"

Plum looked up and returned the teen's wave with a warm smile, then went back to her customers.

 

* * *

 

Eventually, the family's exploration of the annual Halloween fair came to an end, and they headed out east from the park towards the office. Only now did they have peace enough to finally eat the pies and pastries from the Kitakis, and Apollo was quite surprised by how much he was enjoying the Kitaki Lime Pie he'd been handed. _(Maybe they are quite good bakers... despite the whole ex-gangster thing.)_ He smiled to himself. _(If we can afford it, I wouldn't mind dropping by their shop for meals more often.)_

Thalassa finished a bite of the miniature pumpkin pie she'd asked for, and turned to her eldest son. "Speaking of our choice of dessert tonight, maybe you feel ready now to tell us what you find so embarrassing about your second defence case?"

Apollo felt himself already turning red, teeth clenched around a corner of pastry. _(Dammit. I thought they'd have forgotten that by now. I know_ I _did.)_

At the front of their group, Trucy turned around to walk backwards, and grinned cheekily at her eldest brother. "Well, Polly?" Judging by her empty hands, she had already inhaled her pastry.

Apollo glared at her. He removed his lips from the pie and, very deliberately, took his time chewing what was in his mouth.

"Maybe when we get home." Luke patted Apollo's shoulder in silent support, and gave Thalassa an apologetic smile. "It's a long story, and we'll tell it better once we're sitting down and not eating."

Thalassa nodded to accept the answer, and took another bite of her pie.

Trucy huffed in disappointment and turned around to walk normally again, though she kept her face towards the curious Machi at her side. "With the amount of hype this story is building up, you and Mommy are probably gonna be disappointed when you hear how Polly stopped the pan-"

Apollo paled, choking on his food as he desperately tried to clear his mouth to silence her...

"TRUCY."

... and, luckily, Luke once more came to his rescue, stepping forward with a stern frown for their sister.

"We will tell the story when we get home. You are perfectly capable of waiting five minutes."

Trucy pouted, but didn't reply. She redirected her gaze straight ahead, arms crossed.

Luke then turned to Apollo with a worried look. "Are you okay?"

Apollo coughed as he finally cleared his throat, one hand to his neck. "Y-yeah." He nodded. "Just... went down the wrong way." He held the back of his hand to his mouth as he continued to cough.

"Poor dear..." Thalassa massaged his back in an attempt to help.

"Yo, is that you under all those frills, Shorty?"

Apollo, Luke and Trucy looked up as one, surprised to hear such a familiar voice: Coming down the path towards them was a young man about Luke's age, his hair spiked up above his face and a neon pink jacket on his torso that made him stand out in the darkness of the evening. Hanging from his shoulders was a strap that supported a box at his hip, pushed to one side as the teen sauntered down the street. His eyes were locked on Trucy, and his confident grin brightened as the girl raised her sunglasses.

Trucy gasped. "Wocky!" She ran the last few steps to meet him, a wide smile on her face. "Yo, wassup!"

Wocky laughed. "Wassup yourself, Shorty! I gotta say, I'm doin' a lot better than I was when we last met, fo' sure!"

"That's not hard," Apollo muttered.

Luke stifled a laugh. He stepped forward to join their sister. "This is a surprise, Wocky. We just ran into your parents at the fair."

"Aw yeah, saw their outdated 'traditional' stuff, huh?" Wocky scoffed and crossed his arms. "Chinese characters on cake was a fly idea like three thousand years ago. Believe dat!"

Machi fiddled with the brooch pinned at his collar as he edged closer to the conversation. "Um, Mister Kitaki tell me each one has meaning. One that says 'root' is for wishing someone a 'stable foundation' in what they do."

Wocky snorted. "Yeah, but ain't nobody here speaks Chinese, do they? Man, _my_ family came from _Japan_. That ain't the same thing in the slightest!" He eyed Machi curiously. "Yo, you sure you're happy in your girlfriend's clothes, G? I know it's Halloween an' all, but..."

Despite already being the palest in the family by far, Machi's skin somehow turned even paler. "Trucy!? _Copin_!?"

Wocky gave him a strange look. "Copy? _Now_ what are you talking about? I'm the real-est guy you'll ever see, G!"

"He's speaking Borginian." Luke came up behind Machi, resting his hands on the boy's shoulders with an encouraging look. "That word probably means 'girlfriend', doesn't it?"

Machi blushed and nodded, carefully avoiding eye contact.

Trucy wrinkled her nose at Wocky, more confused than anything else. "Machi's not my boyfriend. He's my brother."

Wocky jumped, staring at Trucy in shock. "He's what now!?"

Apollo cleared his throat and stepped forward, gesturing between Wocky, Thalassa and Machi. "I guess we should introduce you: Wocky, this is our mother Thalassa, and our younger brother Machi. They were... _away_ when we were defending you." He shot a wary glance at Luke. _(I mean, technically that's true? I'm pretty sure Luke doesn't see Mom as_ his _mother, but Machi's his brother too. And they_ were _away in Borginia, so whether or not we'd met them yet is irrelevant.)_ "Mom, Machi, this is Wocky Kitaki. He was a client of mine."

"A pleasure to meet you." Thalassa gave the young man a smile.

Wocky waved. "Yo, sweetness. You pretty fine for an old lady."

Thalassa frowned. "Pardon?"

But Wocky had already directed his attention back to Machi. "Sorry 'bout that. You and Shorty there don't look too alike, and youse bein' the same age and everything, I just took a guess."

Machi managed a small smile. "It is okay."

"Man, you wanna make it today, you gotta keep it real, you know what I'm saying?" Wocky didn't seem to have heard Machi, busy patting the box at his hip. "Yo, that's why I made the 'O.G. Cracker'. Fo' real!"

Trucy cooed in delight. "What have you got in there? Are you selling stuff from the bakery too?"

Wocky grinned. "Not from my old man's shop, naw. With all the time I spent lyin' around recuperatin' after the new operation, I decided Pops wasn't all wrong with his idea to leave the gangster life, you know? But his ideas for the new business was still wacked." He grimaced in disgust. "He's so obsessed with all that old traditional crap that's been in the Kitaki family for generations!"

Trucy snorted, and bit her lip. Apollo could tell by the triumphant expression on her face that she was celebrating the 'restored balance', now that it was the younger Wocky fighting for change while Wins kept to old traditions, instead of the other way around.

"If we ever wanna pay off my medical debt, I gotta talk him into somethin' _real_. Somethin' _new_. Like these!" Wocky opened his box and pulled out a thin, circular pastry held in a napkin. "The O.G. Cracker, my pride and joy!"

Apollo wasn't sure what the item in Wocky's hand was intended to be, but to him it looked like a small pie with red filling that leaked out through the gaps of the sloppily applied top crust. And was it just him, or did that pastry resemble a pancake in texture? His siblings were similarly confused, judging by the strange looks they were giving it.

Thalassa decided to be diplomatic: "It looks like you put a lot of work into it."

Wocky's posture straightened with the boost to his pride.

Trucy was less kind: " _That's_ the O.G. Cracker?"

With a roll of his eyes, Wocky placed his free hand on his hip. "I _know_ it don't look like no cracker, Shorty. What, you want me to call it the O.G. Muffin!?"

Apollo and Luke shared a look; Judging by Luke's raised eyebrow, he was equally confused how the pancake-pie qualified as a 'muffin' any more than it did a 'cracker'.

Trucy shrugged, losing interest in the name already. "Have you sold very many?"

Wocky's pride faded into disappointment. "I wish I could say 'yeah', Shorty. I really do." He pouted, returning the item to his box. "I just gotta practise, I guess. Ain't nobody wantin' amateur-lookin' stuff like mine. Too high and mighty." He crossed his arms and sighed. "Man, I hate to admit it, but I'm actually relyin' on Pops and Ma to keep makin' dough until I get good enough to make us _really_ stand out... even if they gotta do it makin' the old stuff."

"If it helps, they seemed to be getting good business when we saw them." Luke smiled. "And if you told them what you're wanting to do and asked for advice making your own wares more 'professional', I'm sure they'd love to help."

"Man, I can't do that!" Wocky turned red, fidgetting awkwardly. "They're my _parents_ , G! I ain't askin' for _help_!"

Machi cocked his head to one side. "Why can you not? That is what parents for."

Wocky scoffed. "Yo, G, you'll realise when you grow up that you gotta be independent. Askin' for help ain't _done_. _Especially_ not from your parents."

Thalassa gasped, a hand to her mouth. "Oh, how awful... No one should feel ashamed to ask if they need help, and especially not from their mother or father." She moved her hand to his chest, eyes far away and face twisted in decades-old pain. "That is the promise any loving parent makes for their child: To raise them with care, and to be there for them whenever they should need you, no matter how old they get."

Apollo immediately felt an urge to reach out to his mother and remind her he was there, and decided to obey it. As his hand landed on her elbow, he realised he'd subconsciously read her most minute movements to infer she'd been specifically thinking of the years she lost while the two babies she gave birth to grew up without her. _(And without my bracelet, even. Is it ironic to use the Gramarye Eyes on another Gramarye? Specifically the one who gave them to you in the first place?)_ He dismissed the thought though, registering that Trucy had similarly noticed their mother's pain and was taking Thalassa's other hand. The message they sent was clear: _The past doesn't matter. We're here now, and always will be._

Thalassa returned to the present, looking between the worried but reassuring smiles on the faces of her biological children. She gripped Trucy's hand, then moved to take Apollo's, and returned their hopeful gazes. _Whatever may happen, we're in this together._

It was Wocky's loud gagging that pulled them out of the moment, and Apollo turned around just in time to catch Luke's and Machi's less-than-pleased glares at the interruption. "Bizzoy! I ain't having anythin' to do with no mushy stuff!" Wocky backed away a little, and Apollo noticed a flash of shame crossing his face before the ex-gangster covered it with a more serious look. "Yo, thanks for tryin' to help and everything, but I'll deal. It's just how the world works, yeah?"

Luke sighed, but gave the younger man a smile. "If that's how you want to handle it, we won't try and force you to change your mind."

"It was nice to meet you," Machi added.

Wocky shot the teen a grin. "Nice to meet you too, G. You should stop by our bakery sometime."

Thalassa hid a chuckle behind a hand. "We certainly will."

Apollo bit back a smile of his own. _(Yeah, maybe the Kitakis aren't as scary as I thought they were. They definitely make good pies.)_

"Ooh, wait!" Trucy jumped at Machi, digging in the heart-shaped pouch hanging from his waist. A moment later, she emerged with her small purse and a winning grin for their friend. "Wocky, how much are your crackers?"

Apollo stumbled backwards in surprise. " _What_!?"

Wocky's face lit up. "Really? You wanna buy some, Shorty?"

Luke frowned. "We only just ate... Do you know how long they'd keep before going stale?"

"Yo, I usually keep 'em for about a week before tossin' 'em, G." Wocky reached into his box and pulled out several of his pancake-pies, each wrapped in a paper napkin. "Course, I put 'em in the fridge when I'm not selling 'em."

Thalassa chuckled. "I think we'll find the time to eat them before then."

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/179176839089/tumblr_pgsmyiTsDU1uwes7q)


	15. Accidental Condemnation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Wright brothers are having some issues.

October 31, 7:25PM  
Wright Anything Agency  
Phoenix's Office

 

"And then yesterday, I was at the front desk with Simba when this nervous-looking young woman came in, asking if we had any shy female cats. And I thought, 'Maybe this is Spud's owner Cathy?', so I told her, 'We have a gorgeous torbie called Spud who's quite shy,' and her face instantly lit up! 'Can I see her, please?' I think she was trying not to get her hopes up." Luke giggled into his hand, suppressing a gleeful wiggle. "It was so hard to keep quiet, leading her back to the cat enclosures!"

Opposite Luke on the other couch, Trucy bounced in her seat, edging precariously close to the edge of the cushion. Next to her, Machi looked much the same, both enraptured by Luke's story the moment he'd started telling it. The phone on the table between the three was silent, except for when it occasionally assured them it was still connected thanks to Phoenix or Maya gasping or making some other appropriate noise in response to the tale. Even Thalassa was listening intently, her chin resting in the palm of one hand as she sat at attention by Machi's side.

Only Apollo, perched alone on the seat next to Luke's, was finding it difficult to pay attention.

"Was cat hers!?" Machi impatiently asked. "She is Spud's owner!?"

Luke bit back a laugh. "Well, I took her out to Spud's enclosure, and she knelt down by the door and put her hand up to the window." He imitated the motion, lifting a hand into the air. "And Spud looked up from where she was sleeping, perked up her ears and padded across to the window to meet her." As he spoke, he also imitated the soft footfalls of a cat with loosely curled fists. "Simba was so surprised! 'She's never done that for anyone before! Not even Northpaw here!'" He laughed.

Apollo fought hard to maintain his appearance of passively listening, though he was glad everyone was so closely focused on Luke that they would overlook any cracks in his veneer. _(I should be happy for him. Luke hasn't got to talk to Dad or Mom Maya since they left. Of course he'd have all these stories of his week built up to tell them about.)_ But that was easier said than done when the aforementioned stories so heavily featured the shelter Luke worked at, and the one coworker in particular Apollo still harboured suspicions of. _(Dad said I don't have to tell him until tomorrow. I have_ permission _to forget about it. Why can't I!?)_ It was all he could do not to groan and bury his head in his hands.

"And then the poor girl started _crying_." Luke sighed, so full of sympathy for the young woman he didn't notice Apollo's inner turmoil. "It looked like it would take her a while to compose herself, so I sent Simba off to fetch some tissues and in the meantime, I got Spud out of her enclosure so they could properly say hello."

"So it _was_ Cathy!" Trucy pointed triumphantly into the air in an imitation of Luke. "Puzzle solved!"

Luke laughed again. "Yes, she _was_ Cathy. She told Simba and me all about her father taking Spud away, how she and Spud were the 'outcasts' in the family... exactly Spud's story, but from a different perspective. When her father finally carried out the threat of sending Spud away, Cathy got out of the house as soon as she could and had been trawling all the shelters she could find to work out where Spud had gone."

"And she'd been doing that for two months," Thalassa mused, almost to herself. "She must have been frantic by that point."

Maya cooed from the other end of the phone. "It's so nice she found her, though! They must really love each other! How else could she have found her cat after all that time?"

"I don't think you quite understand what 'the power of love' means, Maya," Phoenix muttered. "Although you're right; They were clearly very close. Had she taken any longer, that cat could have done itself serious harm with how little it was eating."

Luke shrugged. "She was just stressed and confused... and probably in mourning too, thinking she would never see Cathy again. Honestly, if she hadn't been so clearly depressed, there was a chance we might have pulled off a miracle in getting her adopted." He winced. "It feels awful to say that, that Spud hurting for two months was a good thing in the long run..."

Apollo tried to ignore how relevant that thought was to his own predicament, and patted his brother's shoulder with a small smile. "But at least they're happy now, right? Cathy took Spud home?"

Luke had to think a moment before he reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, Cathy was all too happy to write out all the paperwork and take Spud back home again... away from her father." He frowned. "It was just... so incredibly rude of him. To just take his daughter's cat to a shelter, _knowingly_ against her wishes... and not even regret it from what she told me!" His hands curled into fists, and he crossed his arms firmly. "All he accomplished was causing Cathy and Spud two months of agony. He didn't deserve to have such a sweet daughter or devoted cat under his roof, let alone in his life."

Apollo tried very hard not to read that as a condemnation of himself. He awkwardly removed his hand from Luke's shoulder.

"Yeah, but they're together now." Trucy leaned forward and pushed her hand into Luke's view, giving him a big grin. "They've got the whole rest of their lives together! Two months will be nothing more than a blip soon enough!"

"She's right," Maya chimed in from the phone's tinny speaker. "There's no point dwelling on lost time with your loved ones. All that accomplishes is ruining the good times you _do_ have."

Apollo could just imagine Maya staring at Phoenix and gripping his hands as she said that.

"We can speak from experience, Luke." Thalassa rested a hand on Machi's shoulder. "Despite his evil actions, Cathy's father did not permanently hurt Cathy or Spud. They overcame the difficulties he caused and are now happily together once more. That is reason enough to rejoice."

Luke was unsure at first, but finally nodded and looked up towards Trucy with a small smile. "Yeah. You're right, Thalassa." He reached for his sister's hand, and loosely gripped it in his. Trucy grinned in response.

Apollo was almost surprised to register the minute movements that betrayed the true intent behind his brother's words. _(Luke... Why don't you believe us on this?)_ It had long been a running joke in their family that Luke was incapable of lying; The slightest dishonesty would send him blushing and stuttering until finally he blurted the truth out of sheer stress. In reality, however, this was not always true: In dire situations, when it was truly important, Luke had proven able to stand in court and smoothly lie to the judge's face... though only as much as he needed to. They had only just finished boasting to Thalassa and Machi of Luke doing just that in Wocky's trial to cover for the witness statement of a crow (and wasn't _that_ a trip, to suddenly remember they had yet to explain to Thalassa that Luke could talk to animals?). To see Luke once more pulling off this skilful lie to his _family_ , over something as small as a not-so-nice man he hadn't even met? That was enough to get Apollo worried all on its own. _(What's going on?)_

Thalassa frowned just long enough to remind Apollo that she could also pick up Luke's falsehood, but she quickly covered it with a smile and turned to the phone on the table. "We've been talking quite a while. I imagine you two will be wanting to get on with your day."

"Oh geeze, you're right!" There was a loud thud, and when Maya next spoke, she sounded further away. "I mean, Beh'leeb and Abbot Inmee are so accommodating when it comes to you guys, but you wouldn't be a good excuse for me being so late!"

"Are you kidding?" Phoenix laughed. "Those two let us answer the call in their _house_ this morning! They'd let you do _anything_ when it comes to our kids."

Maya scoffed. "Honestly, I could see that... but I don't want to push it." Her voice got slowly clearer as she approached the microphone on the other end. "I love you all, okay? Be good."

"We will, Mommy!" Trucy giggled.

"Talk to you tomorrow!" Machi added.

Luke briefly raised a hand in a small wave to the phone. "I'll try and be here at a good time again soon, so we can talk more."

Apollo cast one last nervous glance at his brother, then forced a smile for the voices on the phone. "Seeya later, Dad, Mom."

"Bye, babies!" Maya called one last time, before the closing of a door indicated her departure.

Phoenix chuckled. "Bye for now, kids." Among the chorus of his children's final goodbyes, he hung up.

The group sat in silence for a few moments. Apollo almost felt like he was breaking it when he finally reached out to retrieve his phone, and, after a moment of confusion about not being in his regular clothes, put it in the pocket of his jacket.

Trucy sighed and fell backwards into the couch cushions. "Man, we've been busy."

"Understandably." Thalassa counted off on her fingers. "Firstly, there's been all the time spent on remaking costumes at the last minute-"

"And we didn't even _finish_ that!" Trucy angrily gestured to Luke, then gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry about your costume, Luke..."

Luke smiled. "Trucy, honestly, it's fine. It's a nice jacket, and it didn't need to be exactly like my dad's anyway. Or Papa's, for that matter." He reached up to the short collar that encircled his neck, and tugged on the corners. "I actually quite like it."

Thalassa raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "May I continue?"

Trucy blushed, flashing her mother a grin. "Sorry, Mommy."

Apollo bit back a laugh. He noticed Machi doing the same, and a flash of understanding passed between the two as they briefly made eye contact.

Thalassa sighed. "Never mind. I should probably begin heading home, anyway." She stood and headed for the door leading into the apartment, likely intending to change out of her old stage costume.

Trucy and Machi immediately jumped to their feet and followed their mother into the kitchen, alternately apologising for Trucy's interruption and asking her to stay a little longer, and speaking over each other so that their voices came out as little more than _noise_. Before long, the chaotic mess of sound had faded into echoes from the furthest reaches of the apartment.

Left alone together, Luke and Apollo laughed at their siblings' antics. It hit Apollo that Trucy had been right to say they'd been busy, and he felt exhausted... though he couldn't tell how much of that was the costume-making, the fair, meeting the Kitakis, and telling their story... and how much of it was simply his constant worrying over Luke. _(Let's not think about that right now.)_ He removed the black hat from his head with a sigh, then the red jacket, and laid them on the table. A thud as the second landed reminded him of the phone he just put in the jacket's pocket, and he hurried to retrieve it with a frown, placing it gently on the table where he could see it. The imitation of his father's clothes had been surprisingly comfortable, but he was looking forward to getting out of them and heading to bed.

"Do you think you'll ever wear any of this again?"

Apollo looked up. Luke had also removed his hat, and was sadly considering the item as he held it delicately in his hands... a hat Apollo had to remind himself was an actual possession of Luke's birth father. Once Apollo had mentally kicked himself for letting his watch over his brother slip, he managed to push out a reply through his gaping mouth: "Uh, n-no, I don't think so. Yellow's not my colour." He faked a grin and poked the yellow shirt on his chest, but the joke only fell flat when Luke failed to react. Apollo bit back the mistake and watched his brother carefully; It wasn't like him to worry about the potential re-use of a Halloween costume, after all. "You okay?"

Luke reply was far too quick for Apollo's liking: "I'm fine." It took him several seconds after saying it to stop staring at the fedora, instead putting it back on his head and forcing a smile for his brother. "I suppose I should be getting home too. There'll be a lot of traffic as the fair shuts down, and I'd rather avoid it."

Apollo mutely nodded. It took him a moment to register Luke was getting to his feet, and he reached out to grab his brother's arm. "Wait."

Luke raised an eyebrow, looking back at his brother. "Apollo?"

"Tomorrow." Apollo took a deep breath, forcing the words out before he had time to panic and stop himself. _(C'mon Apollo, it's now or never.)_ "Can you... come in tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Luke frowned in thought. "Why? Is it important?"

"Um." Apollo fought for a reason, but decided it was unwise to lie and the truth was... well, he may as well explain the whole thing if he was going to go there. "Not... really? I guess?"

Luke gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Apollo. Fox and I already decided tomorrow was our spring-cleaning-in-autumn day. We've got the whole day set aside for moving furniture and cleaning things we can't usually reach. We've been trying to plan it for a while now."

Apollo nodded and released Luke's arm. "Right. Yeah." He couldn't imagine it was easy to get two vets with alternating shifts both at home and not-tired enough to do major household chores like that. It was hard enough for him and Clay to do so with their own place... not that they tended to do much cleaning outside of whenever an inspection was coming up.

"I'm sorry." Luke patted Apollo's shoulder to offer comfort. "I'll see you on Monday, as always."

Apollo knew he should really push the issue, should heavily imply how important this was and get Luke back in the family home as soon as possible... but he couldn't. He could only force a smile and once more nod. "Yeah, Monday. Seeya then."

Luke giggled, then turned and walked away.

 

[View Apollo's Court Record](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/179209278624/tumblr_pguh7wucEv1uwes7q)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luke's story in this chapter was partly inspired by [this lovely entry](https://notalwaysright.com/stray-details-matter/105285/) from Not Always Hopeless.


	16. Taboo Topics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in Khura'in, the Inmees learn an important fact about their new friends... and Phoenix and Maya learn an important fact about Khura'in.

November 1, 9:01AM  
The High Priest's House  
Guest Bedroom

 

"We've been talking quite a while. I imagine you two will be wanting to get on with your day."

"Oh geeze, you're right!" Maya jumped into action at Thalassa's words, which, instead of smoothly landing her on the carpet ready to run, instead caused her to roll off the bed and fall to the floor with a thud. Brushing off the embarrassment, she leapt back to her feet. "I mean, Beh'leeb and Abbot Inmee are so accommodating when it comes to you guys, but you wouldn't be a good excuse for me being so late!"

Phoenix watched her with a raised eyebrow, still lying across one side of the bed next to the phone. "Are you kidding?" He laughed, gesturing to the room at large. "Those two let us answer the call in their _house_ this morning! They'd let you do _anything_ when it comes to our kids."

Maya objected with a scoff, but had to admit he had a point. "Honestly, I could see that... but I don't want to push it." She leaned closer to the phone on the bed, giving it a big smile. "I love you all, okay? Be good."

As expected, they quickly heard a chorus of their kids' voices on the other end:

"We will, Mommy!" That was Trucy, excited as always.

"Talk to you tomorrow!" And that one was Machi, mirroring Trucy's excitement.

"I'll try and be here at a good time again soon, so we can talk more." Undoubtedly Luke, still a little down from their conversation.

"Seeya later, Dad, Mom." And finally Apollo, a little more reserved than usual. Given what Phoenix had told her yesterday, she couldn't exactly blame him for that, though.

Maya waved to the phone, called "Bye, babies!", then was out the door. No sooner had it closed behind her than she was knocked back by a sudden obstruction in front of her; Maya stumbled backwards, but managed to stay on her feet, and looked up to see Beh'leeb, a tray in her hands that she struggled to hold steady as she also fought to right herself. With a wince, Maya noticed the tray was far from empty: Resting on top were two empty cups, lying in a shallow, newly-formed puddle of tea. "Oh, Beh'leeb, I'm so sorry!"

Beh'leeb shook her head with a strained smile. "Please, do not blame yourself, Maya." She looked down, uncomfortable. "I should confess I was listening at the door. Had I taken these straight in, you and Phoenix would have..." She shook her head, and gave Maya a quick bow. "I am sorry."

"No, no, I shouldn't have been trying to run out so fast..." Maya shook her head and forced a smile, trying not to think about how much of their conversation Beh'leeb had heard. "I guess that makes us both at fault, huh?"

Beh'leeb chuckled, relieved. "I will prepare some more tea. We can head out once we've had a short drink."

 

Maya insisted on helping Beh'leeb in the kitchen, but she could tell as the older woman worked that there was something on her mind. She didn't want to pry, so she waited patiently for her newest friend, quietly heating the water in the teapot, preparing the new, clean tray, and carrying the tea through to the living room, where the Feys and the Inmees sat around the latter's table to drink together. Beh'leeb still seemed thoughtful, so Maya gave her an encouraging smile over her cup.

Beh'leeb sighed, and finally placed her cup down. "Phoenix, Maya... I must confess, I was being terribly rude earlier."

"What, the 'listening at the door' thing?" Maya waved off Beh'leeb's concerns. "Don't worry about it. We all suffer from excessive curiosity every now and then."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow at his fiancée. "That's an interesting way of putting it." He then turned to Beh'leeb. "But she has a point. If we'd had anything to hide, we would have made sure to be somewhere else to answer the call."

Tahrust reached out a hand and rested it on his wife's shoulder, each one looking sorrowful. "We both wished to give you your privacy to speak to your children... but both of us separately broke that promise today. We deliberately eavesdropped on your conversation... and for that, we are deeply sorry."

Maya was shocked, and judging by his expression, so was Phoenix. It was one thing for Beh'leeb to get distracted listening in while she was attempting to deliver tea, but to learn Tahrust had come by to listen in for no other reason than simply wanting to? At least when Beh'leeb wanted to listen in, she had brought tea as an excuse; Maya could understand that very well, having used it a few times as a younger girl to eavesdrop on her aunt.

Phoenix nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line. "Thank you for your honesty, Abbot Inmee." He glanced over to Maya to gauge her reaction, then relaxed his expression into something vaguely more positive. "We're happy to accept your apology. No harm done, after all."

Maya smiled in approval.

"But, you see, we have to ask..." Beh'leeb pressed her fingers to her mouth in thought, still looking distressed. "We only heard the voices of _two_ children on your call. You told us you have five."

Maya's smile sharply fell.

"Ah, yes, that." Phoenix chuckled. "I guess we kinda neglected to mention how old they all are, didn't we?"

"I-it doesn't exactly matter." Maya shrugged, putting on an uncaring air. "They're our kids. They'll always be babies to us."

Phoenix's face flashed concern before he snorted. "Maya, once the boys moved out and took up full-time jobs, there was no getting around that they'd grown up. Luke's about to turn _twenty-one_ ; That's old enough to get drunk!" He frowned and shot a glare at the table. "Well, ignoring the fact he's probably already had that 'fun' thanks to the legal drinking age being so much lower in England... Anyway," he turned kind eyes back up to his fiancée, "it's not like them growing up means they're going anywhere. It's not always been easy for _me_ to accept either, but Apollo and Luke are respons- _mostly_ responsible adults now, and the other three are heading that way fast. It's kind of our job as their parents to make sure they do."

Maya stared at the cup in her hands, speaking more to the liquid it contained than Phoenix. "Not me. I can't help raise them if I'm on the other side of the world." In her mind's eye, she saw the two years stretching out in front of them, and the ages her children would be once they reached the other end: Apollo would be 24, and Luke 22; Pearl would be 18, and wasn't that hard to process!; Trucy would be 17, and little Machi 16. She couldn't even begin to imagine how age might change them, or what she could expect to see when she finally saw them all again. It all seemed so impossibly far into the distance, too far to predict anything at all.

There was a long pause, then Maya felt the rough hand of her fiancé rubbing her shoulder. "Y'know... you have a point about them always being babies to us."

Maya snorted, and had to make an effort not to spill her tea.

"We're sorry, Maya," came Beh'leeb's voice from across the table. "We didn't mean to upset you."

"It's fine." Maya made sure to look up long enough to give her friend a reassuring look. "I'll be okay."

Tahrust hummed in thought. "You mentioned Luke is nearly twenty-one? How old were you when he was born?"

Maya restrained a sigh. She had to talk herself down from seeing any accusations in the priest's words, telling herself he always had the best intentions and asked out of simple ignorance.

"I would have been twelve and Maya six," Phoenix cheerfully replied. "Of course, we didn't meet Luke until he was thirteen, and we were significantly older then."

The stunned silence from the Inmees spoke volumes, and Maya had to fight back laughter.

Phoenix shrugged. "The people in charge don't really care about age difference when you're adopting a kid. As long as said kid's a consenting minor in need of a guardian, and you're an adult, it works out fine. Or, at least, it did for the three I tried it for." It was hard to miss the nostalgic smile as his gaze moved into the far distance.

Tahrust and Beh'leeb locked gazes, still confused.

Maya decided some rubbing in was needed: "They're not _biologically_ our kids, but they're our kids." She grinned. "Besides, if we do ever have a baby, they'd come into this world with five big brothers and sisters ready to spoil them rotten from birth!"

"Like we need more of that in this family?" Phoenix laughed.

"We are sorry; That is not what we meant to imply," Tahrust insisted to Maya. "Whether through birth or adoption, one's children are still one's children."

Beh'leeb nodded, a calm smile forming on her face. "We feel the same way about Puhray, though he is no longer a child. It was simply a shock to learn how different the reality was from what we had imagined."

Maya bowed her head in apology. She hadn't exactly helped by trying to pretend the five youths in question were all still the fresh-faced children or teens she had first met, regardless of the eight-year age gap from oldest to youngest.

"How did you meet them all?" Tahrust asked, his face once more eager for information. "I imagine the story is different for each of the five?"

Phoenix laughed. "Ah, mostly. They each have their quirks." He paused a moment in thought. "Little Pearls was the first. I met her not long before her seventh birthday, though Maya here had known her all her life. Pearls' mother - Maya's aunt - was arrested for conspiracy to murder someone, and for perverting the course of justice attempting to frame," he glanced at Maya, "someone else for the crime. She went to jail, and Pearls was left in the care of her closest living relative."

Maya waved a hand, unnecessarily.

"Since Maya and I were already working together, I sort of ended up helping out, and becoming Pearls' first father figure." Phoenix chuckled. "Not that I really noticed that had happened until after Trucy came along. When I first met her, Truce was seven, and her father had also been arrested for murder, though he didn't actually have anything to do with it in the end." He frowned and crossed his arms. "Not that he was eager for that to get out. He decided he'd rather run away and let people _assume_ he did it than tell anyone what actually happened. And he did this _right in the middle of the trial_ , after I put _so much work_ into trying to help him..."

Maya patted Phoenix's shoulder in comfort.

"Trial?" Tahrust looked thoughtful. "You were... his lawyer?"

Beh'leeb's eyes were wide, her hands covering her mouth. "A _defence attorney_?"

Maya and Phoenix shared a confused look, then the latter nodded. "I... used to be, anyway."

"He was really great, too." Maya tried to cheer him up with a proud grin. "Just look at all the times you saved _me_ from unjust imprisonment!"

"What, was that your version of flirting?" Phoenix pretended not to hear Maya's laughter, and hid a smile of his own as he returned his attention to the shocked Inmees. "Trucy's dad had attracted a very determined enemy in the lead-up to that trial, and this guy managed to cause enough chaos, in addition to our runaway defendant, that I was stripped of my badge. I haven't defended anyone for seven years now," he turned to Maya, "and I've made up my mind not to go back, so stop."

Maya gave him an innocent look, though truthfully she had just been considering how much praise she could heap on Phoenix about his former profession before he changed his mind.

"Besides, we have Apollo to do that now." Phoenix returned his attention to the Inmees, the couple still looking thoughtful as they listened intently. "I met him not long after Trucy. He was a bit of a fan of mine, and Trucy's long lost brother, so once I found him I gave him the option to be adopted alongside her. They didn't have anyone else, so I was happy to offer them the home they needed."

"Apollo's the oldest." Maya gave Phoenix a questioning look. "He was... fifteen?"

Phoenix nodded. "Apollo was fifteen and Luke was thirteen when I adopted them. In fact, if it weren't for Luke, we'd never have found Apollo in the first place."

Maya eagerly explained for the Inmees, "We actually met Luke on a trip to England in 2018, but then his parents decided to move to America, and went missing after a car accident, so Nick here offered to look after him to help find out what happened."

"And before I caught up with him, he'd met Apollo in school, and introduced us because, as I said, Apollo was a fan of mine." Phoenix chuckled, eyes far away. "The look on Apollo's face... Luke had to drag him out the school gate because he was so scared of making a fool of himself in front of me. Luke and Trucy made sure to teach him pretty quick they were more than happy to make a fool of him instead."

The wary looks on Tahrust and Beh'leeb's faces finally faded as the pair quietly laughed.

Maya could see Phoenix happily losing himself to the memories of his children in past years, so she gently nudged his arm. "And Machi was the last to show up. Just this past July!"

Phoenix nodded. "Apparently poor Machi lost his parents when he was young, but several years ago he was adopted by Thalassa, who's... a friend of ours. He got himself caught up in a smuggling case back home, and was put under house arrest. Right after that, Thalassa was in need of some delicate surgery that she had to go overseas for. I offered to look after him while she was away, and..." He shrugged. "I guess the same thing as Pearls. He'd not had a father figure for a long time, so he decided to 'adopt' me as one."

Maya flashed a teasing grin. "And it helped Thalassa was Apollo and Trucy's mother, back from the dead."

Phoenix gave her an exasperated look, though he hid a smile. "I wasn't going to bring that up, but yes. And it's not like Thalassa knew that when she left him with me."

Maya just laughed.

Beh'leeb smiled, though her expression seemed somehow forced. "And that is how you met your children?"

Phoenix and Maya nodded. "That's about it, yeah," Phoenix added.

"Excuse me a moment." Tahrust gave them a polite smile, then stood, and walked to the door. He peeked outside momentarily, checked all the shoes by the mat, then turned and hastily made his way into the hall, disappearing out of sight.

Maya could see how confused Phoenix was, and couldn't blame him; She didn't have any idea what was going on either. Beh'leeb's quiet patience as she waited for her husband's return didn't exactly help. Maya decided to bite the bullet: "What's going on?"

"Tahrust is making sure Puhray is still out praying." Beh'leeb peered after her husband, biting her lip. "As much as we love him, there are some things that are too... _delicate_ to discuss in his hearing."

Before Phoenix or Maya could reply, Tahrust was back, and settling in his seat with a relieved look. "He is still out. Thank the Holy Mother for small mercies."

Phoenix was starting to look annoyed. "So, what's the problem?"

"Something that I do not think _is_ a problem outside Khura'in," Tahrust sighed.

Beh'leeb shook her head, and turned a sympathetic gaze on Phoenix. "You said you used to be a..." she lowered her voice, "defence attorney? And your son is one now?"

Phoenix's eyes narrowed.

Maya would have cursed her fiancé's tendency to suspicion, if she hadn't promised Apollo she'd be careful while she was in Khura'in. Regardless, she trusted the Inmees, and they were only repeating things Phoenix had already told them, so what was the harm in answering them? "That's it, yes. Why?"

Tahrust minutely sighed, and leaned forward. When he spoke, it was also in a hushed tone: "I would advise not mentioning this again as long as you are in our fair kingdom. Not even in private. The wrong person overhearing you could result in dire consequences."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "I'll admit, I was never exactly treated _well_ for being an attorney, but... 'dire consequences'? Isn't that a bit far?"

"You don't understand, Phoenix." Beh'leeb shook her head. "Just over twenty years ago now, our queen at the time was heartlessly murdered."

Maya gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. _(The fire that killed Apollo's dad!)_

"Her younger sister, our current queen, took the throne," Beh'leeb continued. "She helped find the most likely culprit, a defence attorney who was working here in the city."

"He defended himself of the accusation, naturally," Tahrust picked up. "But Her Eminence, in her grief, saw the entire profession of defence attorneys as responsible for her sister's death. She passed the Defence Culpability Act, which would duplicate any and every punishment issued to an accused for their defence attorney... from a simple fine, all the way up to a death sentence."

Phoenix paled, leaning back in his seat. "Wh-what!?"

Maya couldn't believe it. "You mean... if someone defends someone else in court, and loses... they could _die_?"

Beh'leeb nodded, solemn. "Once the DCA was passed, the man accused of regicide fled into the mountains, and it didn't take long for every other defence attorney in the country to either follow him, or be executed."

"Our courts no longer feature defence for the accused." Tahrust pressed his hands together, and Maya could imagine he was shooting off a quick prayer for his country. "The entire profession is seen as criminal."

Maya stared at the table, still fighting the shock. Did Apollo know about this? Is this why he made her promise to be careful?

"It's not exactly illegal to be an attorney, or to defend someone," Beh'leeb specified, "but anyone who knows you are so closely connected to one will see you as no better than queen-killers yourselves."

"That's... _insane_!" Phoenix clutched his head with one hand, still keeping his distance from the table. "I mean, we've always had really good luck picking innocent clients we could successfully defend, but even _I_ have had to deal with a guilty client before! Under this system, I'd've...!" His gaze turned to Maya, and she didn't need to look at him to know he was thinking of the time she'd been kidnapped, and her safety had been promised only on the delivery of a Not Guilty verdict for a _very_ guilty client. They'd held out long enough to change the kidnapper's mind, but Maya had begged Phoenix to throw the case, regardless of her safety. Even she couldn't bear to think of a universe in which that would have required Phoenix to put _himself_ in danger, too.

Maya swallowed her fear and looked up to the Inmees. "Someone told me... They were here about fifteen years ago, and said there was a corrupt regime, and a rebellion. Was this what they meant?"

Phoenix gave his fiancée a quizzical look, but she ignored it.

Beh'leeb and Tahrust glanced at each other. "More or less," the former replied.

"Again, we would advise you avoid the topic while you are here," Tahrust added. "Most of Khura'in goes about their day-to-day lives unaffected by the rebellion, and we would hope to ensure the same for you."

Maya nodded, then returned her gaze to her lap.

Phoenix bit his lip in thought, then slowly moved back into position on his seat. "Thank you for telling us this. We'll keep it to ourselves as long as we're here."

Beh'leeb smiled. "How could we not tell you? You are our friends, are you not?"

Despite the sombre air, Maya managed a genuine smile of her own in response.


	17. Turning Rapidly South

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in California...  
> ... oh no.

November 1, 11:09AM  
Luke and Fox's Apartment  
Luke's Bedroom

 

Luke had developed a fondness for mundane housework over the years. It not only kept his living space nice and clean, but it gave him several minutes every day (or week, depending on the chore) to himself in quiet thought - A chance to think over a difficult puzzle, come up with one on his own, or just to process recent events.

He'd been doing an awful lot of that last one these past two months.

Today had so far been better than Luke would have otherwise predicted. Daylight savings ended at 2am (or was that 1am?) that morning, giving everyone an extra hour of sleep to catch up on any lost during Halloween celebrations the previous night. Luke hadn't needed it, but he'd appreciated the free time to sit and read before Fox woke up and he could start on his usual, noisy, Sunday chores, getting them all done and out of the way for the big spring-cleaning-in-autumn after lunch. First up was his laundry, running the washing machine and dryer, and spending the time inbetween dusting and vacuuming. Once the dryer was done, he brought his clean clothes back into his room to sort, putting most of it away before turning his attention to the creasables. Ironing was a good time to practise his puzzle-solving, finding as many ways as possible to cover the entire shirt, vest, or pair of pants without crossing over himself or lifting the iron too many times. His mind whirred to the sound of the steaming iron in his hand, interrupted only by the occasional sound of his flatmate moving about their apartment.

Cupboards in the kitchen opened and closed. The coffee-maker whirred, then stilled. Someone knocked at the door. "I'll get it!" Floorboards creaked with soft footfalls, then the front door opened.

Luke put the iron aside, and hung his shirt up in the cupboard. Next on the pile was his blue vest, and he set about laying it on the ironing board, ensuring he could cover as much of it as possible in one go. He picked up his iron to start again.

Shoes squeaked on floorboards, then on tiles. A pause, then floorboards creaked in the hallway, getting closer by the second.

Luke frowned, putting his iron aside once more. He tried to memorise what he'd already covered for when he returned to the task.

The door to his bedroom opened and in leaned a woman with long red hair, biting her lip. "Um, Northpaw?"

Exactly who Luke expected to see. He made sure to give his flatmate a smile. "Hey, Fox. Who was at the door?"

Fox looked away, nervously brushing her hair behind an ear. "It's... You know last year, when Mister Pound..."

Luke's face fell. "Yes...? What about him?"

"It's the lawyer guy. They want to talk about that." Fox stepped back, gesturing down the hall. "To you."

"The...?" Luke stared at Fox for a moment, but she wasn't meeting his eyes nor moving. Numbly, Luke shut off his iron, checked he was presentable enough to meet visitors, and followed his friend out of the room.

 

When Luke stepped into the kitchen of the apartment, he was surprised to see _two_ figures waiting inside. _(I did hear two pairs of shoes earlier, I suppose. Neither Fox nor I wear shoes in the apartment.)_ One of them, as Fox had mentioned, was a young man a little older than Apollo, caramel brown hair sitting like a mushroom on his head except for a few strands spiralling up like a question mark over his face. A red jacket was draped over his shoulders, and a blue-black scarf was wrapped around his neck, pinned in place with a prosecutor's badge (a rare sight indeed). The frilly dress shirt and trousers underneath matched the scarf in colour, just as the white shoes matched his gloves. In one gloved hand, he clutched a silver, extendable baton.

The young man smiled as he noticed Luke's entrance, and extended his free hand. "Doctor Wright? I'm not sure if you remember meeting me last year, but-"

"Prosecutor Debeste." Luke shook the man's hand, a grim frown on his face. "I remember you."

The other visitor, sat at the table, giggled and waved. "Hey, Luke!" She was about the same age as Debeste, wearing an identical scarf pinned with a badge resembling a three-legged bird. Her long raven hair was tied up in a high ponytail with a bright pink tie, a golden key threaded through it. She also wore a pink, patterned shirt and black miniskirt, each respectively matching her belt and boots.

Luke nodded to the woman, forcing a small smile. "Kay." She was more familiar to him than Debeste, given how often they had met at Edgeworth's various gatherings over the years, but Luke wasn't sure if she was a 'friend' or just an acquaintance. None of their previous meetings explained what she was doing with this prosecutor. Regardless, he kept his attention on Debeste. "Fox - Miss Bagley, I mean - said you wanted to talk about Phelan Pound's death?"

Debeste nodded, then pointed his baton at the table. "Perhaps we should sit down? There's... quite a bit to go over."

Luke reflected it was a good thing they had the unnecessary two extra stools in the dining area. Kay was already in his usual chair, so he sat in the stool opposite her, and Fox settled in her chair at his side. Debeste took the other stool, next to Kay, and rested the baton in his hand on the table between them.

"Why are you wanting to even talk about this again?" Fox huffed and crossed her arms. "It was _a year ago_. There was a trial and everything!"

"Oh yeah, there were _trials_ , sure." Kay winked. " _Mis_ trials, that is."

Luke's frown deepened. "Mistrials?"

Debeste sighed. "You may or may not have heard, Doctor Wright, but every trial your defence attorney - Kristoph Gavin - was involved in is currently being re-examined. If anything suspicious shows up in the evidence list, a mistrial is being declared and the case is re-opened."

"Oh..." Luke's eyes dropped to the table. "So that means..."

Fox gripped her arms tight enough to turn her skin pale. "You're doing another trial? Are you," she glanced at Luke, "arresting Northpaw again?"

Kay laughed, leaning back in her seat. "Aw, of course not! You think just little old us would've come here if we wanted to arrest someone?" She snorted. "We'd've sent a _detective_ for that!"

The odd reaction was enough to shake Fox from her shock, and she raised an eyebrow at Kay. "You aren't a detective?"

"Nope!" Kay grinned. "I'm Sebastian's assistant!"

Debeste blushed. "After I started out the last trial by arresting the wrong person, I wanted to make sure we got it right this time. From the beginning. We've just got to reconstruct the case against Wildgrube, without the forged evidence. Just the truth."

"So if you're not here to arrest me..." Luke turned his suspicious gaze up to the prosecutor opposite him. "You must want my testimony, then?"

"If you could," Debeste said, forcing an uneasy grin. "We would appreciate your full co-operation, Doctor Wright."

Luke returned his eyes to the table, interlocking his fingers into a tight ball directly in front of him. He should have guessed. They'd known for a long time that Kristoph Gavin couldn't be trusted. If he'd forged evidence to discredit Phoenix, and _got away with it_ , it made sense he might do the same thing again to win cases. That he had apparently done so to win _Luke's_ , though... Luke's frown deepened. "What did he fake?"

"Excuse me?"

Luke looked up, meeting Debeste's confused gaze. "You said the case was re-opened because the evidence looked suspicious. You obviously found something Kristoph Gavin faked. What was it?"

Debeste paled. "Uh, actually-"

"It was those keys!" Kay jumped to her feet, pointing dramatically across the room with a proud grin somewhat reminiscent of Edgeworth's.

"Key! I mean, _Kay_!" Debeste's face flushed red as he gestured for his friend to sit down. "We weren't supposed to _tell_ anyone before the trial!"

Kay scoffed, sitting back down. "D'aww, Luke won't tell anyone! I know him! He's a trustworthy sort, aren't you?" She directed the question at Luke with a wink.

Luke wordlessly looked to Fox at his side, seeing his flatmate sigh. "You're lucky _I'm_ trustworthy too," the woman muttered.

Debeste glared at Kay until she had settled down, then returned his attention to Luke. "What we _can_ tell you is that the prosecutors' office received a tip-off about this one. I'm guessing from someone close to Gavin."

Red flags raised in Luke's brain.

Kay wiggled her brows at the prosecutor. "Like _another_ Gavin?"

"We don't _know_ it was him," Debeste hissed, and his free hand flew to his red jacket to pull it a little tighter around his shoulders. "Prosecutor Edgeworth just said it was anonymous."

"Yeah, cuz he didn't want you to know it was your former classmate, right?" Kay shrugged, though her grin said she was certain her conclusion was correct. "Sure, you can believe a comforting lie if you wanna, Seb."

"It's _Sebastian_."

Luke barely heard the exchange, his mind flying back to the trial nearly an entire year ago. _(Keys, keys... Reindeer's keys! He dropped them when he attacked Mister Pound, and the blood fell on top and left outlines in the carpet... or... I suppose it didn't?)_ He briefly wondered what about the otherwise innocuous keys had been falsified, but with no further clues, he was forced to give up.

"Whoever it was, why didn't they say anything sooner?" Fox rolled her eyes. "They could've locked that guy up _last year_ , and figured out immediately if it _was_ actually Reindeer who..." She pressed her lips together as she trailed off, as unwilling as most of the shelter staff to say the words aloud. "You know."

"That's a good point." Luke's frown deepened, and he stroked his goatee in thought. Debeste and Kay clearly believed it was Klavier who had pointed them to this case, but what would Klavier have seen that any other outsider to the case hadn't? No, Luke refused to believe it _wasn't_ someone directly involved with the first trial, someone close enough to Kristoph to at least suspect there was foul play going on from the start... Someone like...

 

_["What do you mean? He... told you to go away?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4033003/chapters/12859423) _

_Luke clung to his childhood teddy as though his life depended on it, trying and failing to hold in his tears. "I didn't even_ see _him! The guards said he didn't want to talk to me... I wasn't let into the visitor's room, or anything!"_

_"I'm sure he just didn't want you to worry about him."_

_"But it's not fair! You know he's innocent, don't you? Reindeer would never kill anyone, not for any reason! The evidence is wrong!"_

_Apollo had stared back at his sobbing brother with a conflicted expression on his face. There was sorrow, sure, but maybe what Luke had previously interpreted as concern for how best to help... was actually guilt?_

 

"Northpaw?"

 

_["Luke? You okay?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4033003/chapters/15745078) _

_Back in the courthouse, Luke had glimpsed a cloud that looked like a stethoscope. He wasn't sure if it was because of Doctor Meraktis or Reindeer, but the associations were flooding his head regardless... and now he was trying to convince himself he'd just imagined the cloud's shape in hopes of ridding himself of the unwanted train of thought, but he couldn't find it again no matter how hard he tried. Not that he was going to tell Apollo that; It was a silly reason to be staring at the sky... though it wasn't like he was rushing to look anywhere else. "I'm fine. Wocky will be alright, too. He just needs time to heal."_

_"L-look, Luke, there's something I never told you about that trial..."_

_Out of the corner of his eye, Luke could see Apollo looked scared, almost like he was talking to Big Wins again, though that didn't make much sense. Truthfully, Luke didn't care why, or what it was Apollo wanted to say: From the moment he'd realised Wocky was about to live through the same betrayal Luke had, he'd been fighting anxiety to the point of having an actual flashback in his car, and he was far too ready to put all that behind him again. This stethoscope cloud was only the latest problem, and Luke had had enough of it. "I don't want to hear it."_

_"B-but-!"_

_"Not now, Apollo." He didn't even spare his brother a glance as he stalked off._

_Apollo never tried to bring it up again._

 

"Luke?"

 

_Apollo had been acting slightly off all night, which made it especially concerning when he had grabbed Luke's arm and looked up at him with an expression somewhere between determination and fear. "Tomorrow. Can you... come in tomorrow?"_

_"Tomorrow? Why? Is it important?"_

_"Um. Not... really? I guess?"_

_Whatever it was, it was obvious Apollo thought it_ was _important, but if he didn't want to go into it now then Luke wasn't going to pry. It was a shame to have to disappoint him, though. "I'm sorry, Apollo. Fox and I already decided tomorrow was our spring-cleaning-in-autumn day. We've got the whole day set aside for moving furniture and cleaning things we can't usually reach. We've been trying to plan it for a while now."_

_"Right. Yeah."_

_Somehow, Apollo looked even worse, like a kicked puppy... or maybe he was simply wracked with guilt? But, if he wasn't going to talk about it, there wasn't exactly anything Luke could do to help. He pushed his concern aside, longing to return home and have a good long sleep. "I'm sorry. I'll see you on Monday, as always."_

_"Yeah, Monday. Seeya then."_

 

"Doctor Wright?"

"Triton."

Debeste blinked, confused. "Huh?"

"Doctor Triton. It's my name." Luke's eyes snapped up to meet Debeste's concerned gaze with a glare. He didn't care that everyone had been calling to him, or were concerned for him; He could look after himself... because it looked like no one else would. "Call me by my real name, and I'll co-operate. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."

"Oh. Oh!" Debeste grinned, holding up his baton triumphantly. "Great! We'll get started then!" He started digging around in his pockets, mumbling about an organiser and pen.

Luke ignored Kay's and Fox's worried stares. Only one phrase was cycling through his mind, again and again and again: _WHAT HAS APOLLO DONE_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with Sebastian and Kay making their first appearance here, they have both been added to the character list. :D I've also added the Inmees, because they really should be included with how often they're showing up.


	18. Rips and Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Much to his dismay, Luke can only come to one possible conclusion, and one useful course of action.

November 1, 2:38PM  
Luke and Fox's Apartment  
Luke's Bedroom

 

In the end, Debeste and Kay had collected testimonies from Luke and Fox, received a solemn vow from Luke to help out as much as he could, then promised to be in touch as they walked back out the door. Fox was left pacing the kitchen, worry etched into her face.

"I... I can't do the big clean today, Northpaw. Not after that..."

With the spring-cleaning-in-autumn called off, Luke prepared them some lunch, and Fox turned on the TV to something mindless and inoffensive, making it easy for them not to have to think while they ate. Even though Luke had watched the whole thing, all he really remembered of the programme was British accents that reminded him of home and an awful lot of shots of houses. The moment it was over, Fox started to sniff and excused herself, then disappeared into her room. Luke took his time cleaning up before doing the same... only to be confronted with his ironing board and vest, still set up by the cupboard. Sighing, he figured there was no point leaving a job half-done, and turned the now-stone-cold iron back on to get back to it.

While he waited for the iron to heat up, Luke felt his mind returning to the conversation with Debeste. It was almost exactly eleven months since Phelan Pound was murdered, since Rudolf Wildgrube - Reindeer, to his colleagues - had been convicted of the crime after confessing to it in the middle of Luke's trial. For months, Luke had firmly believed Reindeer - _Wildgrube_ \- was lying, had admitted to it only to save Luke from a similarly false conviction. It took a long time for Luke to accept that, well, who else _could_ it have been? Pound hadn't killed himself, and Luke certainly hadn't done it either. Simba was on her way out at the time, and Wildgrube had been proven to have briefly and secretly returned after initially walking out with Fox. Luke knew Simba was too kind-hearted despite her rough exterior to have done anything so violent, and Wildgrube hadn't even admitted he went back to the shelter until shortly before confessing, causing no end of trouble for everyone attempting to investigate. Plus, it was his labcoat that had been used to (poorly) clean the blood, and his keys that- Oh, yes, the keys weren't real evidence, were they? That was still a little hard for Luke to process, for some reason.

 

_"[Face it, kid;](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4033003/chapters/12842650) You were an idiot if you ever looked up to me. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one with that fancy doctorate of yours? You should've guessed this was coming a long time ago."_

 

The iron beeped, signalling it was warmed up, and Luke wasted no time grabbing it to get back to work, shaking Wildgrube's hurtful words from his head. He had no idea what he'd already flattened and what he hadn't, so he decided just to go over the whole vest again from the start.

Actually, now he thought about it, Luke knew why the keys being faked was so hard to accept. He had absolutely no doubt in his mind it had been Apollo who tipped off the prosecutor's office about the false evidence. This was clearly something he'd known about for a long time, but had never told anyone. And how _could_ he have known about it? It was tempting to assume Kristoph had forged the keys, but if he had, how would Apollo know? He already knew at the time that Kristoph had forged evidence before, true, but Apollo knew better than to just assume a key (ha) part of their case wasn't real; There had to have been evidence for that, and if there had been evidence, surely Phoenix would have pounced on it? It wouldn't have been as tidy a conclusion as the Jurist Trial, sure, but it would have gotten the truth out much sooner... and that _had_ been what Phoenix wanted, right?

Luke could only guess that this earlier call out hadn't happened because there _was_ no evidence the keys were false, which brought him back to the question of how Apollo knew. Luke doubted his older brother had been so bold as to ask Kristoph directly if the keys were forged, which left only one, _very worrying_ , possibility:

Apollo forged the keys himself.

It clashed with everything he knew about Apollo, yes, which was why it was worrying... but there was a steadily growing mountain of supporting evidence the more Luke thought about it.

All those looks of guilt and _fear_ every time Apollo attempted to bring it up, before changing his mind.

The _anonymous_ tip-off the prosecutor's office received.

Apollo trying to tell Luke about it _now_ , likely to beg his brother to stay quiet.

That the blame for the forgery would naturally fall on Kristoph after the Jurist Trial last month, allowing a second,  _true_ forger to avoid detection.

Apollo having the perfect opportunity to act, being in the middle of the investigation.

Apollo having the perfect _motive_ , trying to protect his brother by hurrying along an obvious conclusion - He had always argued the culprit had to be an employee, after all.

And, biggest of all: When Wildgrube had confessed in court and Luke had been hysterical trying to stop him, Apollo had stood behind that bench with Kristoph, and done absolutely nothing.

 

_"Face it, kid; You were an idiot if you ever looked up to me. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one with that fancy doctorate of yours? You should've guessed this was coming a long time ago."_

 

Luke hadn't seen Wildgrube's betrayal coming. What made him think he'd see Apollo's?

A series of loud _snaps_ pulled Luke back to reality, and he almost reflexively flipped off the iron and moved it aside to survey the damage: Where the line of small black buttons used to be on his vest, was now a line of frayed threads. The buttons themselves he found on the floor at his feet, littering the carpet. He stared at them numbly for a moment, before a drop of water landed on his foot. _(Huh?)_ He was about to turn his head upwards and look for a leak before a second drop fell on the carpet, and he belatedly realised they were tears. Luke sniffed and wiped his eyes, wondering how he could have started crying without noticing... and if maybe that was how he managed to shear off all the buttons on his vest in one fell swoop.

In silence, Luke gathered the dropped buttons and left them in a pile on the ironing board, then picked up the vest to examine the results of his mistake. Trucy had made this for him, when he came back home after graduating, and he'd worn it ever since. This wasn't the first time he'd been careless and ripped off a button, either. Usually, whenever he damaged a piece of clothing, he would take it in to the Agency the next time he was visiting, and...

 

_At this time of day, Luke didn't expect to see his father or sister when he arrived at the agency; Trucy had school, and Phoenix was still sleeping off a late night at the Borscht Bowl Club. He let himself in the agency's front door, nervously calling "Hello?"_

_Apollo looked up as the door opened, and his face broke into a wide grin. "Hey, Luke!" The grin soon dropped to a frown as he noticed his brother's bare white shirt. "What happened to your vest?"_

_Luke smiled sheepishly, and pulled the item from his satchel. "I, uh... was a little careless ironing it the other day. I ripped off a button." He retrieved the button itself from a pocket, showing it to his brother._

_"Oh. That's all?" Apollo snorted, then got up from the couch where he was sitting and made for the drawers next to the piano, where he and Trucy kept their sewing supplies. "Just put 'em on the table there, I'll fix it up."_

_Blushing, Luke moved around to the messy table and found an empty space to put it down. "You don't mind?"_

_Apollo laughed. "Of course not! It'll only take a second." He sat back down and pulled out a spool of black thread and a needle. "If you wait for Trucy to have time, you'll probably be waiting a week." A cheeky wink was enough to indicate his exaggeration, and to make his brother give up the questioning with a laugh._

 

Luke's hands clutched the thin fabric tighter, and he moved to the open closet nearby. The latest addition, a dark blue jacket with a small collar around the neck and no buttons, hung proudly right at the front, standing out against Luke's white shirts behind it. _(My Halloween costume this year... Apollo was supposed to be putting it together.)_ And how Trucy had complained when Apollo suddenly hadn't been able to finish it properly because a job had come up, a job that he wouldn't talk about to anyone... except, strangely enough, Thalassa. Was she in on it? Was this mysterious job related to the re-opening of the shelter case?

And, speaking of Thalassa, another strange incident came to mind regarding Apollo and one of his parents:

 

 _Apollo glared and slammed his fists on the defence bench with a ferocity that almost shook the cameras they were watching the trial through. "[Objection! What about the Borscht Bowl Club?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4033003/chapters/21912269) You killed Zak Gramarye! Was that to keep _ him _from talking, too? Did_ he _know about your forgery? Have you had murder plans for_ everyone _ever connected to the forged evidence you've used in the past!? Including me? Including_ Luke _!?"_

_They didn't have the best view of Trucy and Machi, but Luke distinctly remembered hearing Machi repeating his name, "Luke?", in a shocked tone._

_It wasn't until later, while the jurists were all voting, Luke had a chance to talk about the strange comment._

_"[Apollo suggested Mister Gavin had murder plans for everyone connected to his forgery, right?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4033003/chapters/21953852)"_

_"I doubt it," Edgeworth assured him. "Zak Gramarye had no reason to even suspect Gavin forged evidence, so the motive behind that murder won't be the same as the Mishams."_

_Luke stared at the floor, still confused. "But then... Apollo thought he might have had plans to kill his own apprentice... and to kill_ me _. What kind of connection do_ we _have to that forgery, aside from being related to Papa?"_

_He'd looked up just in time to see Phoenix and Edgeworth briefly lock gazes before turning towards the young vet. Phoenix smiled disarmingly and explained, "You two are the oldest. Apollo probably thought he would have seen you two as a threat the same way he saw me."_

_Edgeworth adjusted his glasses with a stern frown. "Not that he had plans to kill anyone else, I suspect. If he'd been planning to murder anyone in your family, he would have done it years ago."_

_Luke didn't really believe them, but he'd put the question aside... and then forgot to pick it back up again once the verdict was called._

 

Phoenix and Edgeworth had jointly constructed a lie, that was obvious... a lie to cover for Apollo. Of course Gavin wouldn't have had murder plans for the younger Wrights, not if he had nothing to do with the fake keys. And Apollo? He was clearly taking the chance to pin the blame for it on a more obvious suspect. Whatever Apollo knew, _they_ knew as well. As far as Luke could tell, at that same moment he'd been questioning Phoenix, on the other side of the building Apollo was probably sharing everything with Trucy and Machi, and carefully instructing them _"Don't tell Luke, whatever you do. We can't trust him with this, can we?"_

A loud _rip_ brought Luke back to reality, and he looked down to find tightly curled fists held a good distance apart from each other... and, hanging between them, the bisected remains of Luke's blue vest. The outer lining had been pulled away from the inner lining all down the left side and halfway along the neck and the back, leaving snapped pieces of thread sticking out of odd places and making the whole thing look more like a sky-blue-coloured scrap than a once-functional piece of clothing.

Luke's vision blurred, and he realised he was crying again. He couldn't trust Apollo, and now he couldn't trust Thalassa, or Phoenix, or _Edgeworth_... Could he really trust _anyone_ in the extended family he'd been carefully building up these past seven years?

And even if he _could_... If it took Trucy several days to repair a single button, how long would it take her to repair the entire vest?

His feet moved almost without Luke noticing, and he found himself staring down at the small wireframe bin next to his desk, its white bin bag gleaming with how empty it was. Making no effort to blink back the hot tears, Luke dropped the useless pile of blue fabric, and watched it sink into the plastic without another thought.

 

* * *

 

[ **Sun, Nov 1,** 3:25 PM]

 _< I won't be able to come in on Monday after all._  
_< Actually, I won't be coming in at all this week._  
_< Maybe not the week after, either. I don't know yet._

 _Wait what? Why not? >_  
_Well can I drop by your apartment then? I really need to see you asap >_

 _< No. I don't want you anywhere near my apartment, Apollo._  
_< You're too late._

 _Is this about reindeer? >_  
_Luke please I can explain please let me explain >_

_< I don't want to hear it._

_Don't make me do this over text Luke I need to tell you this in person >_

_< I'm blocking your number, Apollo._

_Luke please listen! >_  
_I'm sorry for not telling you I really am but I had no choice >_  
_I've been trying to tell you for three days but I didn't want to ruin the holiday for u >_  
_And I was scared you'd get mad it was a secret and I guess you actually are mad so at least we got that right >_  
_Luke please just say something so I know you're still reading >_

[ **Sun, Nov 1,** 4:39 PM]

_Luke please >_

[ **Sun, Nov 1,** 8:02 PM]

_Please reply >_

[ **Mon, Nov 2,** 7:47 AM]

_I'm sorry :( >_

 

[View Luke's Notebook](https://wrightfamilyagency.tumblr.com/private/179311235314/tumblr_ph01ozeQqE1uwes7q)


End file.
